SHOPIFY recently launched its Entrepreneurship Index, working with Deloitte, that calculates the GDP impact, business activity impact, jobs supported, and exports generated by millions of entrepreneurs in Shopify’s ecosystem over the last year. Overall, New Hampshire ranked No. 16 in the U.S., with a GDP impact of $474 million (a 17.3 percent increase year over year), and a 21.3 percent increase, year over year, of exports ($13.1 million).

THE index also showed that 4,000 jobs were supported or sustained from New Hampshire-based merchants who use Shopify’s platform to produce goods and services. This includes merchants’ suppliers and their induced impacts. Overall business activity on the platform reached $984 million, a 17.8 percent increase over last year.

A recent report from Allconnect showcases that New Hampshire still has some groundwork to cover in the realm of broadband — 89.9 percent of Granite Staters have cable access, 36.29 percent can access fiber internet networks, and 37.47 percent of the state has access to fixed wireless services. The report also found that Spectrum and Xfinity were the fastest internet providers nationwide, with both in the range of 232-234 Mbps internet speed.

A Pew Research Center survey found that people place a higher priority on reducing the budget deficit than last year (up 12 percentage points from 2022). Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents said that reducing the budget deficit should be a top priority for Congress, compared with 45 percent in 2022. Republicans are more likely to prioritize this (71 percent) over Democrats (44 percent).

IN another Pew Research survey, 65 percent of Americans say that tax rates on large businesses and corporations should be raised, and 61 percent support raising tax rates on household incomes over $400,000. Democrats were much more likely than Republicans to say that tax rates should be increased.