| As clock ticks, new service tax still up in air
With eight days to go, questions still remain about a 6 percent tax on a hodgepodge of services that was signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on the eve of the state's fiscal year that started Oct. 1. The tax is due to be collected starting Dec. 1. The biggest question: Will the tax be axed before it becomes due? State legislative leaders are working on a compromise that would repeal the service tax with either a tax on businesses or digging in their heals, depending which pundit is talking. State Sen. Michelle McManus (R-Lake Leelanau) is still hoping to repeal the service tax without raising other taxes. Meanwhile, Leelanau County businesses that could be directly affected by the service tax are preparing for the worst. "We need to reprogram our registers at the points of sale to handle that," said Jamie Jewell, senior manager of sales at The Homestead, which operates 16 downhill ski runs with breathtaking views of Lake Michigan just north of Glen Arbor.
Small business owner: Carrie Shapiro
Category winner: Carrie Shapiro Age: 32 Lives: Broughton, near Cowbridge Carrie designs exclusive jewellery handmade in Wales, using anything from glass and shell through to wood and Swarovski crystals. She founded her jewellery business, Carrie Elspeth, eight years ago, and since then, has seen it rapidly expand. Carrie is fast gaining a reputation in the industry for her stylish and unique designs, and is now considering a move into the export market. Carrie said, "I never thought I'd win the award – the calibre of the other contestants and previous winners was high. On the night I was just concentrating on having a good time. "But when I found out I had won, I was absolutely delighted. In the early days I ran the business from my parent's house.
Small firms account for an increasing share of U.S. exports
Smaller companies are grabbing a bigger share of U.S. exports, making up for some of the jobs lost as multinational firms move operations overseas. American businesses without international subsidiaries accounted for 46 percent of sales abroad in 2005, up from 38 percent in 1999, according to a Commerce Department analysis published last week. The trend is likely to continue, helping cushion the economy from the worst housing recession in 16 years, economists said. "We are at a six-month backlog now, and we have been for over a year," said Leon Trammel, chairman of Tramco Inc., a maker of conveyor belts in Wichita, Kan. "Our business is just great." After exporting his first belt to the Netherlands on an impulse 35 years ago, foreign sales will be almost half of his firm's projected $40 million in sales this year, Trammel said.
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