The C4 Report from the City of Central Chamber of Commerce

Win-Win

    Last week we held our monthly Members Luncheon meeting at Kristenwood.  Over 60 people attended, great networking took place, several door prizes were given out, we enjoyed a great fried catfish dinner, and heard from a guest speaker.  Thanks to everyone that came that helped to make this such a successful meeting.

    Our Guest speaker for our September luncheon was Louisiana Secretary Treasurer, John Kennedy.  Kennedy stressed the importance of seeing more jobs being created in Louisiana.  To be successful in seeing more jobs come to our state, he said we need to not only focus on large businesses but we need to focus on helping the many small businesses in our state add 1 to 2 jobs.  Kennedy feels, that many times, the potential of what could happen through small businesses creating jobs is often overlooked.  For instance, we have over 300 businesses that are chamber members.  If just 2 jobs were added by each business, you would see an additional 600 jobs in our area. Another issue, that Kennedy presented, that would help to create jobs would be to get government off the backs of businesses.  Kennedy pointed out that, when you add all the taxes together that Louisiana businesses pay, we rank 5^th in the nation for state taxes being paid by those businesses.  This definitely is not an environment for encouraging starting businesses or for businesses to come to our state.

    Once again, I have to tip my hat to all the businesses in our area that are willing to pay all those taxes, provide jobs to our citizens, and stay with the fight!  Many of these businesses are able to employ 1 – 10 individuals, pay their fees and taxes, and at the same time give to so many other needs in our community.   These businesses and their employees depend on this community supporting them!  The more we support them, the more jobs they will be able to create.  It is the perfect win – win situation!  As you move into the holiday shopping season or as you have projects that need to be done, turn to the businesses in our community and help them stick with the fight!  You can find a list of businesses on our website at cityofcentralchamber.com or in our Directory/ Phonebook.  Thanks to our businesses and thanks to the community for supporting them!