The particles that ferry cholesterol through the bloodstream are popularly known as &S220;bad&S221; or &S220;good&S221;: bad if they deposit cholesterol on vessel walls, potentially clogging them; good if they carry the cholesterol on to the liver for excretion.

Now scientists have created tiny particles in the laboratory that mimic those good carriers, scooping up the cholesterol before it can grow into dangerous deposits of plaque. The surfaces of these new particles are coated with fats and proteins so they can bind tightly with the sticky cholesterol to transport it through the bloodstream.

The particles may someday be important in treating cardiovascular disease, said Dr. Andre Nel, chief of the division of nanomedicine and director of the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

&S220;Researchers have endowed these artificial particles with the same properties as natural particles that circulate in the blood,&S221; called high-density lipoproteins, or HDL, he said. The artificial carriers can clean up sites where plaques can otherwise rupture, leading to strokes and heart attacks.

The particles may be useful not only in cardiovascular therapy, but also in diagnosis. The researchers have put gold and other metal cores at the center of the particles, Dr. Nel said, so that they show up well in medical imaging. Such imaging could be used, for example, to monitor plaques as they build up in blood vessels.

At the Chicago campus of Northwestern University, artificial HDL nanoparticles have been designed by Dr. C. Shad Thaxton, an assistant professor in the urology department, and Chad A. Mirkin, a professor and director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at the university&S217;s Evanston campus They have founded a company, AuraSense, to commercialize the technology.

The Northwestern researchers replaced the fatty core found in natural HDL with gold nanoparticles, Dr. Mirkin said. &S220;The gold core serves as a scaffold for attaching molecules that are the same as those on the surface of naturally occurring HDL,&S221; he said. &S220;We have demonstrated that our synthetic version of HDL binds cholesterol very tightly, not only in the laboratory, but in animals.&S221;

The group has done a pilot study in animals and will soon begin a larger study, also involving animals, Dr. Thaxton said

At the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, Willem J. M. Mulder, an assistant professor of radiology and gene and cell medicine, and his research group have developed HDL-like nanoparticles intended primarily for imaging and diagnosis. The particles have centers of gold or other materials, Dr. Mulder said, depending on the type of imaging to be used.

&S220;One of our interests is in the imaging of the biological processes in atherosclerosis,&S221; the hardening of the arteries caused by plaques, he said.

Gold nanocrystals show up well in one type of imaging, called computed tomography, he said, and iron oxide nanocrystals work well with magnetic resonance imaging.

The research of the Northwestern and Mount Sinai groups may one day benefit people who develop deposits of atherosclerotic plaque, said Dr. Gregory M. Lanza, a professor of medicine at the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.

&S220;Both of these groups have shown that this HDL mimic can adsorb cholesterol,&S221; he said. One day, the particles like those created by the groups may be included in therapies for heart disease, he said. &S220;They may become part of good anti-atherosclerosis management, along with diet, nonsmoking and statins,&S221; drugs that interfere with the synthesis of cholesterol.

BUT for that to happen, cautioned Dr. Nel at U.C.L.A., more study will be needed. &S220;We will have to find out what happens when the gold nanoparticles accumulate in the body,&S221; he said. &S220;This is a problem for treatment of chronic diseases where you administer materials over a long time.&S221;

Vincent M. Rotello, a professor of chemistry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who does nanoparticle research, agreed. &S220;Right now, nanoparticles are great for diagnostic and acute therapeutics,&S221; he said, but issues lie ahead that must be solved before the particles can be prescribed.

&S220;Gold is nontoxic,&S221; he said. &S220;But it does build up. We don&S217;t know what the effects of the buildup might be.&S221; Smaller particles are excreted, he said. But larger particles may accumulate in the liver. Dr. William O&S217;Neill, executive dean for clinical affairs at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, welcomed the artificial particles.

&S220;If we can prove they don&S217;t have side effects, we could give them as a drug, causing plaque in the coronary arteries to shrink,&S221; he said. &S220;It could revolutionize cardiology.&S221;

E-mail: novelties@nytimes.com.

Novelties: From the Lab, a New Weapon Against Cholesterol

NEW YORK – A private forecast of economic activity over the next six months edged up less than expected in October, signaling slow growth next year.

The Conference Board says its index of leading economic indicators rose 0.3 percent last month. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected an 0.5 percent gain.

The index climbed 1 percent in September.

The Conference Board forecasts economic activity by measuring current jobless aid claims, stock prices, consumer expectations, building permits for private homes, the money supply and other data.

Leading economic indicators signal slow growth

LONDON -- U.K. home builder Barratt Developments said Tuesday that it has achieved its target net reservation rate in the period since the start of July, with prices ahead of budget. The group said reservations are averaging 204 a week, compared to 197 a week a year earlier, with cancellation rates of 13.4%, down from 23.7%. "While trading conditions in the housing market have improved, activity levels will remain constrained until the availability of mortgage finance increases particularly at higher loan to value levels," said CEO Mark Clare. The company said it continues to expect total completions for fiscal 2010 will be around 12,000.

Barratt Reservations Edge Higher

PERHAPS too much has been said about those tiresome kings of finance, macho bankers and hedge fund executives who have swooped in and picked up some of New York&S217;s most valuable real estate in good times &<51; and less good times.

But they aren&S217;t the only business people stepping up to find a new home, despite the current uncertain market. Property records filed this month show that Anne M. Mulcahy, the chairwoman and until recently chief executive of Xerox, closed on a $7.4 million three-bedroom apartment on the 13th floor in the Superior Ink condominium on West Street and West 12th Street.

Ms. Mulcahy and her husband, Joseph, own a large house on the beach in Fairfield, Conn.

They also owned a three-bedroom condo in the Grand Beekman, on East 51st Street, but sold that last year when they were already in contract to buy at Superior Ink.

Ms. Mulcahy&S217;s closing happened a day after Lisa Carnoy, the global head of equity capital markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, closed on a six-bedroom 4,300-square-foot apartment at the Harrison, a new condo development designed by Robert A. M. Stern at 205 West 76th Street, for $9.74 million.

Property records show that Ms. Carnoy and her husband, David, an editor at cnet.com, went into contract in January 2007, long before the Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch last year and paid $3.6 billion in disputed bonuses to key Merrill executives.

E-mail: bigdeal@nytimes.com

Big Deal: They Have to Live Somewhere

LONDON -- Chemicals group Akzo Nobel said Thursday that it will buy Dow Chemical Company's powder coatings activities. Financial details were not disclosed. The deal will bring key technological know-how and significant synergy potential to AkzoNobel's Powder Coatings business, as well as enhancing the company's position in the U.S., it said. The powder coatings activities were purchased by Dow earlier this year as part of its acquisition of Rohm & Haas. This business has sales of several hundred million dollars and employs around 700 people.

Akzo Nobel To Buy Dow Chemical Powder Coating Ops

TOKYO -- Shares of Toshiba Corp. advanced Tuesday afternoon in Tokyo amid reports that the company is making a bid for the transmission and distribution business of French state-controlled nuclear company Areva SA . Toshiba's stock was up 1.6%. Other bidders include Alstom SA , Schneider Electric SA and General Electric Co. , according to a Dow Jones Newswires report. The report cited an account by French daily La Tribune as saying Toshiba is likely the highest bidder, with an offer topping 5 billion euros ($7.5 billion).

Toshiba Shares Up On Reports Of Bid For Areva Unit

New data show that small businesses have battened down the hatches in response to the recession.

From the beginning of this year through Sept. 30, sales at small businesses (privately held companies with revenue of $10 million or less) have fallen 3.75 percent, according to figures from Sageworks Inc. At the same time, net profit at these businesses has risen to 6.5 percent. How have they accomplished this? By cutting their costs. Overhead, payroll and advertising as a percentage of sales have all declined.

The numbers show that small companies have &S220;reacted strongly and appropriately&S221; to survive the downturn, said Drew B. White, the chief financial officer of Sageworks.

When you are a small business and your survival is at stake, it is hard to take financial and strategic risks, which generally require extra spending.

&S220;I am not looking to privately held small business to lead us out of this recession,&S221; Mr. White said.

The Count: Small Businesses Hunker Down to Survive

The nation&S217;s stores posted a second consecutive month of sales increases in October, the retailing industry&S217;s best performance in more than a year.

Results at chains as varied as Costco and Saks were clearly helped by easy comparisons to the dismal results of a year ago, but also by October&S217;s cool weather and Columbus Day sales. Retailing analysts said sales might also have been driven by pent-up demand.

Over all, the industry reported a 1.8 percent increase at stores open at least a year, according to Thomson Reuters. Retailers have not reported a sales increase that large since June 2008, when the industry&S217;s sales rose 2 percent. Nearly every sector had sales gains in October, with the exception of teenage-clothing retailers and department stores.

In a statement on Thursday, Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers, an industry group, called the results &S220;further evidence of retail recovery.&S221;

Clothing chains selling designer names at bargain-basement prices were the top performers. Sales at TJX stores open at least a year, a measure of retail health known as same-store sales, increased 10 percent. TJX, which owns stores including TJ Maxx, Marshall&S217;s and Home Goods, has been on a roll for months as consumers shop for bargains.

Carol M. Meyrowitz, the company&S217;s chief executive, said in a news release that &S220;customer traffic continued to drive sales throughout the month, boding well for the holiday season.&S221;

A TJX competitor, Ross Stores, also thrived, turning in a 9 percent sales increase.

Other discounters reported healthy numbers, including Costco (up 5 percent) and Kohl&S217;s, the value-priced clothing chain, which had its fourth consecutive month of positive sales. October sales increased 1.4 percent at Kohl&S217;s, though that was lower than what analysts were expecting.

Kohl&S217;s also reported some signs of broader recovery, saying in a news release that its strongest year-over-year gains were in the home goods category, a retailing sector hit hard by the recession. The company said same-store sales increases were notable in the Southwest, a region that was hurt more by the recession than other parts of the country.

Sales at BJ&S217;s Wholesale Club declined 1.1 percent, though customer traffic was up 4 percent year-over-year. Sales at Target also decreased slightly, by 0.1 percent, yet its same-store sales of clothing were slightly stronger &<51; a sign that consumers are beginning to spend some discretionary dollars.

&S220;We are entering the holiday season with very clean inventories,&S221; Gregg W. Steinhafel, chief executive of Target, said in a news release, &S220;and we believe we are positioned to perform well in what continues to be a challenging economic environment.&S221;

Wal-Mart Stores, the nation&S217;s largest chain, stopped reporting monthly sales figures in April.

Same-store sales at department stores &<51; a group that was struggling even before the recession &<51; declined slightly, falling 0.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. Even so, some department stores had sales growth for the first time in months. Same-store sales increased even at the upscale chains like Nordstrom (up 6.5 percent) and Saks (up 0.7 percent). Nordstrom was one of the industry&S217;s top performers. And Saks said in a news release that it experienced &S220;relative strength&S221; in some of its merchandise categories, like women&S217;s designer sportswear, its e-commerce business and its outlet stores, Saks Off 5th.

At Bon-Ton, sales rose 3.1 percent. &S220;We are encouraged by the sustained improvement in our sales trend, which began in August,&S221; Tony Buccina, vice chairman and president for merchandising at Bon-Ton, said in a news release.

Other department stores did not fare as well. Sales declined at Dillard&S217;s (down 8 percent), Neiman Marcus (down 6 percent), Stein Mart (down 4.9 percent), JC Penney (down 4.5 percent) and Macy&S217;s (down 0.8 percent).

Retailers catering to teenage shoppers posted the weakest results, with same-store sales declining 5.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. That was much lower than analysts&S217; estimates. Sales fell at Abercrombie &&8; Fitch (down 15 percent), Zumiez (down 8.9 percent), American Apparel (down 6 percent), American Eagle Outfitters (down 5 percent), Limited Brands (down 4 percent), Hot Topic (down 2.6 percent), Children&S217;s Place (down 2 percent) and Wet Seal (down 1.3 percent).

Of course some teenage clothing chains bucked the trend as they have for the last several months, including Buckle (up 4.3 percent) and A&>33;ropostale (up 3 percent). The Gap, which is in the midst of a turnaround, posted a 4 percent increase.

For November, the first month of the crucial holiday shopping season, the International Council of Shopping Centers is forecasting a 5 to 8 percent same-store sales increase.

Retailers Report Sales Increases

WASHINGTON -- A Senate bill to extend jobless benefits and expand a popular homebuyer tax credit cleared a key procedural step on Monday afternoon, paving the way for a final vote later in the week. By a vote of 85 to 2, senators agreed to cut off debate on a bill that would grant an extra 14 weeks of benefits to those who have exhausted them. The bill would also extend an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers through April 30 of next year and expand the credit to repeat buyers.

Jobless Benefits, Home Credit Clear Senate Hurdle

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (GYT'-nur) says deficits are definitely too high, but the priorities right now are restoring economic growth and creating jobs.

Geithner tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that deficits will have to be reduced as growth recovers.

Asked whether taxes will be raised, Geithner says President Barack Obama is going to have to make some hard choices and doesn't want to add to the burden of people making less than $250,000 a year.

Geithner says the administration is not at the point where it has to decide how it will reduce deficits because it's still focused on helping the economy recover and grow.

Geithner: Deficit too high, but avoids tax talk

SEOUL &S212; By the middle of next year, Internet surfers will be allowed to use Web addresses written completely in Chinese, Arabic, Korean and other non-Latin alphabets, the organization overseeing Internet domain names announced on Friday in a decision that could make the Web more accessible.

In a move billed as one of the biggest changes in the Web&S217;s four-decade history, the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers &S212; or ICANN &S212; voted Friday to allow such scripts in Internet addresses during its annual meeting, held in Seoul.

The decision is &S220;an historic move toward the internationalization of the Internet,&S221; said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN&S217;s president and chief executive officer. &S220;We just made the Internet much more accessible to millions of people in regions such as Asia, the Middle East and Russia.&S221;

This change only affects domain names &S212; anything that comes after the dot, such as .com, .cn or .jp. Until now, they could only be in 37 characters &S212; 26 Latin letters, 10 digits or a dash. But starting next year, domain names can be the characters of any language.

The decision, reached after years of testing and debate, clears the way for ICANN to begin accepting applications for non-Latin domain names on Nov. 16. People will start seeing them in use around mid-2010, particularly in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts in which demand for the new &S220;internationalized&S221; domain name system has been among the highest, ICANN officials say.

Initially, the new naming system will only affect Web addresses with &S220;country codes,&S221; the designators at the end of an address name, such as .kr (for Korea) or .ru (for Russia). But eventually, it will be expanded to all types of Internet address names, ICANN said.

Internet addresses in non-Latin scripts could lead to a dramatic increase in the number of global Internet users, eventually allowing people around the globe to navigate much of the online world using their native language scripts, it said.

This is a boon especially for users who find it cumbersome to type in Latin characters to access Web pages. Of the 1.6 billion Internet users today worldwide, more than half use languages that have scripts that are not based on the Latin alphabet.

&S220;The meaning behind this measure is that the Internet belongs to everyone, no matter what language they speak,&S221; said Mr. Beckstrom. &S220;It&S217;s all about inclusion of all people in all regions of the globe. The Internet is about bringing the world together and this will facilitate that effort.&S221;

Net Addresses Can Use New Scripts

Stocks mostly fell on Tuesday as mixed reports on home prices and consumer confidence gave investors little incentive to step into the market.

A decision by I.B.M. to double its stock repurchase plan propped up the Dow Jones industrial average, but the Nasdaq composite index slid after Baidu, the Chinese Internet search company, warned its revenue could take a hit as it switched its advertising system. Two stocks fell for every one that rose.

Bond prices rose as demand was strong at a government debt auction, signaling that investors were still seeking safety.

Stocks rose at the start of trading after the release of an index showing that home prices in 20 major metropolitan markets increased for a third consecutive month in August. That report, the Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s/Case-Shiller home price index, gained 1 percent in August from July.

The higher home prices were not enough, however, to offset worries that consumers might not be in a mood to spend this holiday season. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell unexpectedly to 47.7 in October, its second-lowest reading since May. Analysts predicted a figure of 53.1.

Worries about consumers have been around for a while, but the confidence numbers took some of the sheen off corporate profit reports for the third quarter, which have been coming in ahead of expectations.

&S220;When I look at the consumer, I think that is the next big test,&S221; said Dave Hinnenkamp, chief executive of KDV Wealth Management in Minneapolis. &S220;We&S217;ve passed a big test on the earnings front.&S221;

The Dow rose 14.21 points, or 0.1 percent, to 9,882.17. The broader Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index fell 3.54 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,063.41, while Nasdaq fell 25.76 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,116.09.

Bond prices rose after a Treasury Department auction of $44 billion in two-year notes drew robust demand. That pushed yields lower. The yield on the two-year note fell to 0.94 percent from 1.04 percent late Monday. The Treasury&S217;s benchmark 10-year note rose 29/32, to 101 15/32, and the yield fell to 3.44 percent from 3.55 percent late Monday.

Stocks have fallen for most of the past week on worries about the economy. The Dow dropped 104 points Monday after a similar slide Friday. It was the first consecutive triple-digit loss for the Dow since mid-June.

The latest drops came as a strengthening dollar pushed commodity prices lower. The dollar mostly rose again Tuesday.

Analysts say the coming days could be choppy as traders look for fuel to extend the market&S217;s climb. Frank Ingarra Jr., co-portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds in Stamford, Conn., said the market was about where it should be but could stall if more companies failed to show they would increase profits by bringing in more revenue and not just by slashing costs.

&S220;We have a pretty good valuation here. To propel us to go forward we need to have good top-line growth and you&S217;re just not seeing it,&S221; he said.

Investors are also looking to the government&S217;s first reading on economic output for the third quarter. The report on gross domestic product is due on Thursday and could signal an official end to the recession that many analysts have said is over.

Crude oil rose 87 cents to settle at $79.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

I.B.M., one of the 30 companies that make up the Dow, rose after it added $5 billion to its stock repurchase fund. The total now stands at $9.2 billion. The stock advanced 54 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $120.65.

Baidu&S217;s American Depositary shares slid $49.31, or 11.4 percent, to $383.66 after it its warning about revenue.

Following are the results of Tuesday&S217;s Treasury auction of four-week bills and two-year notes:

Stocks and Bonds: Consumers’ Malaise Weighs on Shares

TEL AVIV -- Legg Mason Inc., the Baltimore asset manager, will on Tuesday name Nelson Peltz its 14th director and 13th independent director. Peltz is a founding partner and chief executive of Trian Fund Management LP, an investment firm that holds 6.9 million shares, or about 4.3%, of Legg Mason. The nomination reflects an agreement between Legg Mason and Trian, the companies said in a statement on Monday. In addition, Trian has agreed to vote its shares in favor of Legg Mason's nominees to the board. Peltz said in a statement that "Legg Mason's recent strategic initiatives are improving the company's operating performance." Peltz also sits on the board of H.J. Heinz, the Pittsburgh foods giant, and serves as nonexecutive chairman of Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc.

Legg Mason To Name Trian's Peltz To The Board

WASHINGTON &<51; Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepped up the pressure on House Democrats on Friday to support her preferred version of legislation that would require the federal government to sell health insurance in competition with private insurers.

A blog from The New York Times that tracks the health care debate as it unfolds.

Share your thoughts about the health care debate.

Top Discussions: The Public Option | Medicare and the Elderly | A Single-Payer System

Her action came amid indications that Ms. Pelosi had not locked down the votes for the proposal, the most contentious element in a bill that would provide health insurance to more than 35 million people, at cost of nearly $900 billion over 10 years.

Other provisions of the bill, including enhanced Medicare benefits, could take the total cost over $1 trillion, Democrats said. But they promised to offset the cost and avoid any increase in federal budget deficits.

At a meeting Friday, the chairman of the House Democratic caucus, Representative John B. Larson of Connecticut, called the roll and asked lawmakers to say whether they would vote for a bill including the most liberal, &S220;robust&S221; version of a government insurance plan, similar to Medicare. The results were not definitive because many members were missing and some supported the bill but called for changes. Ms. Pelosi finds herself once again caught between two wings of her caucus: the progressives, who demand a Medicare-like public option, and moderate-to-conservative Democrats, including many from rural areas, where hospitals say they could not survive on Medicare payment rates.

At a meeting with Ms. Pelosi on Thursday, liberal Democrats like Representatives Yvette D. Clarke of New York and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois spoke forcefully for a robust public option.

Ms. Pelosi told them that she had well over 200 votes, but that it was proving difficult to reach the goal of 218.

The House Democratic whip, Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, said Friday that party leaders were considering four variations of the public insurance plan.

&S220;We are trying to find out which one of these approaches will best suit the most people in our caucus,&S221; Mr. Clyburn said.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, is going through a similar exercise, polling his caucus.

In a shift, Mr. Reid told colleagues on Thursday that he was inclined to include a government-run insurance program in the bill that he would take soon to the Senate floor. States would be allowed to opt out if they wanted.

Asked about Mr. Reid&S217;s idea, Ms. Pelosi said, &S220;I don&S217;t think there&S217;s much problem with that.&S221;

Ms. Pelosi said that in shaping the House bill, she was already thinking about &S220;the endgame.&S221; If the two chambers pass disparate bills, as Democrats expect, negotiators from the House and the Senate would try to reconcile the differences.

When it appeared that the Senate bill might not have any government insurance plan, Ms. Pelosi said, it was essential for the House to pass a strong public option, as a counterweight to the Senate. Now, she said, she will consider an alternative favored by some centrist Democrats, who contend that the government plan should not set prices but negotiate payment rates with doctors and hospitals, as private insurers do.

Ms. Pelosi set the health care legislation in its historical context, saying it &S220;sits very comfortably in the path of Social Security and Medicare,&S221; created in 1935 and 1965, respectively.

Mr. Clyburn said the squabbles among Democrats on health care were like the disagreements in the 1960s among civil rights leaders, who had the same goals but sometimes differed on legislative strategy.

The House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, said Friday that the House could take up the health care legislation as soon as Nov. 6 and might meet on Saturday, Nov. 7, to continue work on it.

But Democrats in both chambers have missed many self-imposed deadlines. And many hurdles remain.

House Democratic leaders are still trying to figure out exactly how to limit the use of federal money for abortions. In addition, before taking their bill to the House floor, Democrats need to get a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

Ms. Pelosi said she had not decided whether lawmakers would be allowed to offer amendments on the House floor.

In the Senate, Mr. Reid is considering several alternatives to his proposal for a national public insurance plan. Under one alternative, the public plan would be established, or triggered, only in states that failed to meet certain goals for insurance coverage.

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, said this approach would allow health insurance companies to continue price-gouging for several years.

&S220;A trigger simply delays price competition,&S221; Mr. Rockefeller said. &S220;It is not a substitute for a strong public health insurance option.&S221;

Mr. Reid talked Friday with several moderate Democrats, including Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana. Ms. Landrieu has said she strenuously opposes &S220;a government-run, taxpayer-supported public option,&S221; but Mr. Reid hopes to change her mind.

Pelosi Intensifies Pressure for Public Health Plan

When property taxes go up, homeowners can find other homeowners willing to fight for relief. Big businesses, too, can flex their muscles. But small businesses are often left behind, mainly because they are, well, small.

“This is not a business of having your throat cut by one expense,” says Kelly Conklin, co-owner of Foley-Waite Associates, an architectural woodworking company. “It’s a death of a thousand cuts.”

&S220;The little guys get hurt more by rate hikes because they have less bargaining power with their local city governments or taxing jurisdictions,&S221; said Myron Orfield, a University of Minnesota Law School professor and property tax specialist.

Chris Hoene, director of research and policy for the National League of Cities, an association in Washington said that the property tax problem of some small-business owners was &S220;a story that isn&S217;t told often enough, even though it closely approximates the one that we tell about homeowners on fixed incomes who can&S217;t afford their property taxes.&S221;

With tax revenue down, said Robert J. Cline, director of state and local tax policy economics for the Ernst &&8; Young accounting firm, all businesses face potential property tax rate increases. But property taxes represent a greater portion of the total tax bill for small businesses, Mr. Cline said. &S220;So if property tax rates rise significantly, small businesses may see that this recession has a more severe impact on them in terms of taxes compared to the 2001 recession, when property values held up like a champ,&S221; making rate increases unnecessary.

After the 2001 recession, there were &S220;residential property tax revolts&S221; in a number of states, including Florida and Indiana, said Gerald Prante, an economist for the Tax Foundation, a tax policy group in Washington. &S220;In many respects, homeowners got what they wanted, and as a result there was a shift in some municipalities to higher property taxes for businesses.&S221;

Grafton Willey IV, a tax accountant who heads the Rhode Island chapter of the National Small Business Association, an advocacy group based in Washington, said that while homeowners carried much of the property tax burden, &S220;they vote, and often push politicians to put more of it on businesses.&S221;

Susan M. Wachter, a real estate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, noted that large retailers could push their rent costs down throughout America&S217;s malls. &S220;Large malls will follow through with requesting lowered property tax from municipalities,&S221; she wrote in an e-mail message. &S220;Small entrepreneurs and tenants do not have similar information resources to even know whether and how much property tax payments are being lowered for others.&S221;

Mr. Orfield said that municipalities with the least property wealth &<51; central cities and older &S220;inner-ring&S221; suburbs where foreclosures had weakened an already fragile tax base &<51; were the most compelled to raise rates.

&S220;In many big metro areas, where hundreds of surrounding cities have competed for property wealth by zoning for the biggest housing and most valuable commercial property, it&S217;s a disaster,&S221; he said. &S220;Twenty percent got all the good jobs and big homes, which allows them to have lower tax rates. The rest got nothing &<51; and a small-business person there, who probably has one location where he needs to do business, will be hurt when rates go up.&S221;

Paul Scully, an organizer for Building One America and the Gamaliel Foundation, community grass-roots groups based in Chicago, said that rising tax rates had been &S220;devastating for owners of one-off small businesses like hardware stores, barbershops and bookstores.&S221;

According to the Tax Foundation, using the latest available Census Bureau data, New Jersey collected the nation&S217;s highest per-capita combined local and state property tax, $2,485, in 2007. Connecticut, where &<51; as in New Jersey and most other states &<51; local schools depend heavily on local property tax dollars, placed second with $2,312; New York was sixth with $1,963. Alabama collected the least, $455.

Beyond greater state financing for schools, property tax relief generally takes two forms, said Mr. Hoene of the National League of Cities &<51; so-called circuit breakers, which limit increases for homeowners on fixed incomes, and one-size-fits-all caps on rate increases.

Rising Taxes Squeeze Local Operations