For small businesses, a hesitancy to hire (fearing taxes, discimination lawsuits)

FRANKLIN — For the first time in years, Bill and Donna Olson, owners of a small contractor supply company, feel hopeful. Sales of power tools, ladders, and generators are up. More customers are visiting their showroom. Most important, nails — their business’s lifeblood — are selling again. ... At Marathon Tool, the Olsons said hiring one counter clerk at $35,000 a year would require them to also pay $1,750 in state unemployment insurance premiums, $2,170 in federal payroll taxes, $583 for workers’ compensation insurance, and $280 for federal unemployment insurance. Just covering the salary would require them to sell about...