By Greg Bishop with the Illinois Radio Network

After Thanksgiving turkey, the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear with Black Friday. A small business advocate is reminding consumers to shop local for Small Business Saturday.

Black Friday deals have already started in some places with online stores offering their own savings. Noah Finley, Illinois state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, hopes you’ll give that local shop your support for Small Business Saturday.

“And so when you shop local, most of that money actually stays in the local economy and gets recycled, and it’s just good for everyone,” Finley told The Center Square.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy.

“They provide jobs, they provide services and goods and it’s important that we support them as well,” he said.

A recent survey conducted by NFIB found that small business owners do more than just create jobs, and provide services and goods, they also provide other support for their communities.

“Seventy-six percent indicate that they donate their time to get involved in civic organizations, sports teams, other things throughout their communities and 90% indicate that they actually donate their money to communities as well,” Finley said.

And with competition from big box stores and online retail giants, Finley said small businesses are up against another Goliath, government regulations.

“They don’t have, say the HR department, the legal team, their whole government affairs to sort through it and make sure that all the reports, all the paperwork requirements are up to date and so they are all too often at a disadvantage,” Finley said.

Finley said the NFIB will be working in Washington D.C. in the new year to extend the small business tax deduction that expires at the end of next year.

“If we don’t extend the small business tax deduction,” Finley said, “nine out of ten small businesses will see a massive tax increase at the end of next year.”

The typical NFIB member employs between one and nine people and reports gross sales of about $500,000 a year.