Ladies Who Launch

RI, NJ and NY Ranked Worst for Small Businesses

From the New York Post:

New York's punishing taxes give it the third worst business climate of any state, a new report says...

"What I see is that New York has an overly complicated tax system," report co-author Curtis Dubay told The Post...

The only states that fared worse, according to the report, are Rhode Island, which ranked dead last, and New Jersey, which came in at 49th of the 50 states.

For the complete story, click here.

Congress Still Considering Internet Taxes

From the Austin Business Journal:

Congress must decide soon whether to extend the moratorium on Internet access taxes, but eBay is more concerned about legislation that would force Web merchants to collect sales taxes on out-of-state purchases.

The moratorium, which prohibits states and localities from taxing Internet access, expires Nov. 1. It went into effect in 1998. Many business groups are lobbying Congress to make the moratorium permanent, but the National Governors Association favors a four-year extension, so that Congress can revisit the issue and "review any unintended consequences for consumers, industry or the states"...

Under current law, sales taxes are charged only if the Internet retailer has a physical presence in the purchaser's state...

"Brick-and-mortar retailers are currently required to collect sales taxes while many online and catalog retailers are not," the federation wrote Congress. "This is not only fundamentally unfair to Main Street retailers, but it is costing states and localities billions in lost revenue."

Ted Cohen, an eBay vice president who led the company's lobbying day on Capitol Hill, says small brick-and-mortar stores are being hurt by big-box retailers, not Internet sellers.

"It's not eBay that put them out of business," Cohen says.

The push to require Internet sales tax collections is "about large retailers who want to crush small business," he says...

In short, share your views on Internet taxes with your Congressional representatives.  After all, they are supposed to represent YOU.

WSJ: Top 50 Women to Watch

The Wall Street Journal Releases Its Second Global “Top 50 Women To Watch”

NEW YORK ( Oct. 31, 2005) — The Wall Street Journal, the world’s leading business publication, today announced the results of its second global “Top 50 Women To Watch” ranking, which is designed to recognize women who have achieved noteworthy successes in business in the past, as well as those who are poised to play important roles in business in the years to come.

The ranking includes women from the U.S., Europe and Asia, and is divided into seven diverse subgroups:

• “Running the Show” — Women who are chairwomen or chief executive officers.
• “In Line to Lead” — Women who stand to move up in their own companies or elsewhere in the years ahead.
• “The Inheritors” — Women who could be running the family business in the future.
• “The Policy Makers” — Women in government and central banks having a significant impact on business.
• “The Owners” — Women who run their own companies.
• “The Advocates” — Women who are working to improve career opportunities and everyday lives of women.
• “On the Sidelines” — Women who recently have stepped down from high-profile corporate positions and are expected to play a major role in business in the years ahead.

“We are proud to be honoring, once again, the 50 women who have made an indelible mark in their respective professions,” said Karen Elliott House, publisher, The Wall Street Journal, and senior vice president, Dow Jones & Company. “These women, who come from a wide range of companies and locations around the world, are in a class by themselves and their accomplishments are evidence of this. I congratulate each and every one of them.”

The entire ranking is listed below.

List of Nominees Includes Women From Virtually Every Industry, as Well as From Countries Around the World

Grammar--the basis for flame wars

I was recently referred to an article on Digg about software documentation. The subject of the article wasn't nearly as interesting, however, as the posted comments to it. People online LOVE to use poor grammar as evidence that someone's argument is fallacious. It amazes me how venomously folks will attack each other on bulletin boards and in chat rooms for the smallest typo, or, god forbid, error.

I am a raving grammarian, it's true, but I can't help but think this stigma, this...treating a misuse of "you're" as equivalent to showing up to school on the short bus, is the reason that those who aren't great writers will feel shame and hide their lack of skill as if they were track marks.

Folks, not knowing grammar isn't the sin that it seems to be. Is it a skill that most people should be better at? I think so, but not being very good at writing isn't something to be ashamed of, it's something to work on.

The moment you decide to face your shortcomings is the moment they lose power over you. Don't run from your writing issues; face them. Seek out answers and practice as much as possible. If you need someone to bolster you through the process or to give you the answers you can't find, that's when you call me.

--Rachel Carroll Whalley, Seattle-based Business Writing Coach
www.writewithmeaning.com