States vow to help entrepreneurs but do little.
That can curb help. For instance, a state may boast it has lowered taxes on small businesses but such a gesture is meaningless to many entrepreneurial start-ups, which typically experience several quarters of losses in their early years of operation, says Patrick Von Bargen, executive director for the commission. Entrepreneurial companies tend to run tax losses for a significant amount of time before they make a profit. Almost three-quarters of the state financial assistance programs are in the form of loan guarantees, loan participations and direct loans. The others said that entrepreneurs could take advantage of general programs available to small businesses.