How Regulations Accumulate as a Small Business Grows
by Wayne CrewsThe Senate votes this week on a small business tax-break bill which also contains controversial provisions to boost community-bank loans to small business. That is, Washington wants to “nudge” small banks into making loans that they’d otherwise avoid. Kind of like what the government did with home mortgage lending, with results some party poopers might characterize as catastrophic, but hey, who’s paying attention to things like that anyway.
One tries in vain to argue that the answer to recovery is not to artificially stimulate anything, or to overrule prices and rates in the marketplace; those are signals about underlying realities to heed and allow to play out. But beyond that, we must cut regulations that paralyze business and job creation. The starting point is to inventory all the regulations that impact a small business as it grows, and set about rolling them back.
Below is the rough inventory I’ve compiled, but I’m sure it’s out of date and some things have changed. And this doesn’t even address industry-specific rules (see endnote), themselves desperately in need of reform. And it certainly doesn’t address yet-to-come from the new financial reform and Obamacare legislation. I welcome any additions and subtractions.
FEDERAL WORKPLACE REGULATION IMPOSED ON GROWING BUSINESSES* (Draft—Wayne Crews)
ONE EMPLOYEE
- Fair Labor Standards Act (overtime and minimum wage [27% min. wage increase since 1990])
- Social Security matching and deposits
- Medicare, FICA
- Military Selective Service Act (90 days leave for reservists; rehire discharged veterans)
- Equal Pay Act (no sex discrimination in wages)
- Immigration Reform Act (eligibility must be documented)
- Federal Unemployment Tax Act (unemployment compensation)
- Employee Retirement Income Security Act (standards for pension and benefit plans)
- Occupational Safety and Health Act
- Polygraph Protection Act
4 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
- Immigration Reform Act (no discrimination with regard to national origin, citizenship, or intention to obtain citizenship)
15 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
- Civil Rights Act Title VII (no discrimination with regard to race, color, origin, religion, or sex; pregnancy-related protections; recordkeeping)
- Americans with Disabilities Act (no discrimination, “reasonable accommodations”)
20 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
- Age Discrimination Act (no discrimination on the basis of age against those 40 and older)
- Older Worker Benefit Protection Act (benefits for older workers must be commensurate with younger workers)
- COBRA (continuation of medical benefits for up to 18 months upon termination)
25 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
- Health Maintenance Organization Act (HMO Option required)
- Veterans’ Reemployment Act (reemployment for persons returning from active duty, reserve, or Nat’l Guard)
50 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
- Family and Medical Leave Act (12 weeks unpaid leave or care for newborn or ill family member)
100 EMPLOYEES: ALL THE ABOVE, PLUS
- WARN Act (60-days written plant closing notice) -Civil Rights Act (annual EEO-1 form)
*Assumes non-union, non-government contractor, with interstate operations and a basic employee benefits package. Includes general workforce-related regulation only; Omitted are categories such as environmental and consumer product safety regulations, and regulations applying to specific types of businesses such as mining, farming, trucking or financial firms
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56 Comments
Government: Keeping small business small! (*)
(*) Non-existent is "small," isn't it?
Somehow I think the government needs to regulate employment more. There is just too much the companies can get away with./ sarc off.
Which one of those regulations would encourage someone to start a business or hire more people? How many of those are reasons to either not open a business or to not expand your business? Most if not all? Throw in the pending 50% corporate income tax rate then the real wonder is why anyone would try to own a business. The whole conglomerate mess is a giant disincentive.
"The Senate votes this week on a small business tax-break bill which also contains controversial provisions to boost community-bank loans to small business. That is, Washington wants to “nudge” small banks into making loans that they’d otherwise avoid. Kind of like what the government did with home mortgage lending, with results some party poopers might characterize as catastrophic, but hey, who’s paying attention to things like that anyway."
Nudge?
The illustrious Cass Sunstein wrote a book by that title.
I don't want those sorry sumbitches "nudging" anything.
They are already on the verge of "nudging" US right over a cliff. Before I take the final plunge, it will be time for action. The law of the wild dictates either fight, or flight. When there is nowhere left to run, we have run out of options.
Plus, if you get big enough, the SEIU will become involved with your labor force and do everything in its power to destroy your business. We've become one of the most anti-business climates on the planet. It goes to show you the complete lack of understanding on the liberals part. Business is what CREATES wealth for ALL! Employees and employers. Without businesses we have no wealth. Businesses should be lauded and rewarded, not the gov't. Besides, businesses are FAR, FAR less corrupt than gov't despite what the media portrays.
The goal is to put all on the dole, then they will decide on your BMI IF you get bread with your water.
The list Mr. Crews provides is the reason why outsourcing continues apace. Well, that and high tax rates.
I suppose lefties would rather have the masses on unemployment and welfare, rather than not be beneficiaries of the Health Maintenance Organization Act and Polygraph Protection Act.
Wow, what a list. And the USA is right up there with Japan on business tax rates at 39%.
On the other side of the coin there needs to be a serious audit of the SBA. How successful is it really? What about all the fraud? What makes Obama think he can improve on that mess?
it all fits in the Cloward- Piven strategy…
Now that Bawney Fwank and Chris Dodd have deemed Fannie and Freddie bad risks that need to be dealt with
(how insanely hypocritical of them, too) the new 'crash the system' but get us cheap votes tactic is to force the banks into yet MORE bad loans.
Guaranteed by Uncle Sucker- and us.
Does anyone else see the blatant in your face lie that this all is? Dispense more taxpayer funds (fiat currency) at 'targeted groups' (their friends and political allies) so they, too can go bad? The 'too big too fail' ripoff will then kick in, perpetuating the whole sorry mess.
Bring on the Tea Party! Quick!!…
Farmers are considered "small business".
Here ya have it, election year pay-to-play: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9I8IBA80...
I wonder, will Sordid Shirley Sherrod and Pigford raise their ugly snouts?
Actually it's even worse, because of state and local regulations and reporting requirements as well, not to mention if you also have multiple locations, which may be in different states. Then there are insurance, privacy etc. requirements, bookkeeping, filing this and filing that, etc. I started a small business in 1997, and closed it in 2010, mostly because of all the DAMN RULES AND REGULATIONS. Forget about it! I'm not interested in jumping through all the hoops.
How do you become a small business owner when democrats are in charge?
Buy a big business and wait 6 months.
Did you ever think, two years ago, that we would be seeing what we are seeing?
I knew it would be bad, but this is beyond my wildest nightmares.
Everywhere liberals are in charge, there is economic devastation. That's a fact and it's indisputable. The left's economic incompetence is a danger to society!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UtmTALMkU4
Don't you understand you are too dumb to take care of your business yourself, and that businesses are so horribly corrupt they have to be regulated. They need to be more like Congress and the Cabinet. Bastions of decency and beyond reproach.
(in case you can't tell, that is DRIPPING with sarcasm)
This is what a beauroacracy does. In their feeble minds this is job creation, because you need witless beaurocrats to go out and enforce their dumbass rules. The classic parasite/host relationship. Remember dummy-dems, eventually the host dies.
That is funny.
Like the old joke how do you become a millionaire in the oil business. Drill until it is all gone.
Or the cattle business. Start with a million dollars and buy cows and wait for them to die.
I like your analogy.
I have a great idea for a new business, oh wait, never mind.
Off topic: Mooochell thinks the first lady job is hell and she hates it….I think we all have a solution for her….take barry and leave!!!
100 points for that one!!!
Excellent article, Wayne. Now more folks can see what federal hoops business has to jump through to even have employees. Sad part for some of those small businesses is that some of the personnel overhead required by all the laws are not productive and do not lend to an increase in the bottom line. Yes, I agree with the posters who stated that our tax structure and inordinate bunch of regulations have and do entice business to escape overseas. It may be time to take a serious look at the 39% tax and some of the regulations. The only out I see is for a business to hire each individual as an independent contractor.
Amen! But they can’t, there’s more of America that needs to be destroyed. : – (
I saw that on Drudge.
Simply amazing.
Ok, I think I have it. We repeat bad policy but we hide it in feel good legislation. Is that it?
And the whole corollary is more people = more regulations = more enforcers of regulations = leviathan government = loss of liberty = subjugation.
Can there be any doubt? There's money involved.
Lawyer Finds Image of Karl Marx in Code of Federal Regulations http://optoons.blogspot.com/2010/06/lawyer-finds-...
Wait until the lame duck session after the Nov elections. The worst nightmares are yet to come.
This is what happens when you elect idiots who have never worked an honest days work who think government knows best from cradle to grave. Is November here YET?
Plus you have all the department regulations, EPA, IRS, ObamCare ect ect ect and fees at all levels of government–local, state and federal. Then the cost of following all of those rules and paying all of the fees.
The discussion should be about reducing and simplifying the IRS.–like the Young Guns are talking about.
" How Regulations Accumulate as a Small Business Grows "
Of course, it's the progressive way.
death by a 1,000 regulatory cuts
My company uses only freelancers which also makes the government livid!
First you lend small businesses money at a low rate, then you raise their taxes so that they can't pay you back. The businesses fold and they no longer pose a threat to the big businesses who want this kind of legislation to kill off their potential competitors. It also defunds your political opponents and improves your chances of being reelected.
People on welfare and unemployment vote for more benefits just like people on Social Security and Medicare. With over 50% of families collecting some sort of government payment it represents an enslaved voting block that will always support big government.
It's a miracle, to say the least, that even a one employee business can survive and prosper long enough to advance up to having more employees. It speaks to the spirit and determination of those entrepreneurs. Leave 'em alone and let them work their magic.
I refuse to be nudged. There is nothing in the world I'm needing badly enough to cause me to sell my soul to get it.
Try going green, or try to lower your manufacturing cost by supplying some of your own power– add the utility-state-federal-local-monopoly and regulation of the grid, to all the state, local, federal regulation and interconnection fees–then double down for utility regulation and interconnection fees. They say they want businesses to go green but they make it very very difficult and very expensive for them to do so in reality, even though in MOST cases it would help the business bottom line it isn't worth the 3-5 year capital investment or the trouble.
The DOE recommends the doubling of combined heat and power, the DOE even states that the major roadblock is regulation!!
Yes, that's very, very small.;-) +Hanzo+
That would be so nice.
Scary thought, but I think you are right.
On April 24, 2006, Nancy Pelosi bragged:
"Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices"
Little did we realize that their plan at the time was to tank the economy so badly that demand for gasoline would dry up as people could no longer afford basic necessities. Way to go Democrats! You've done a GREAT job these last 3 years and 8 months you've controlled Congress! Just look at the economy, race relations, the deficit, jobs, energy, education, health care, etc..
This is forcing many businesses to treat workers, albeit incorrectly, as independent contractors rather than employees. But Big Brother takes a dim view of those who seek to avoid the chains that bind the master-servant relationship. Senator Kerry and the Department of Labor are seeking to eliminate worker misclassification with the newly announced Fair Playing Field Act of 2010 bill introduced this week.
This just goes to show that the government can go after any business simply be deciding to enforce the regulations. Like the tax code, it is impossible for a small business to keep up with all these regulations.
Must be really hard for her to never be able to say what she's really thinking about America.
yes the best way to help poor people to get prosperous is to cut the bottom rungs off the prosperity ladder making it impossible to get off welfare.
and it will take years to reverse what they will thrust upon the nation if it can ever be reversed…
Case in point:
Today I received a call from a contractor that works for OSHA. Occupational Safety Hazard Association? If I told of you what I do to pay 44% of my income in taxes you would fall off your chair laughing at this.
We need 5,000,000 federal employees like I need a case of hemorrhoids.
Just another slush fund to bang small business over the head.
What's shocking is how few realize it, or want to say anything, like the truth.
If only we could have a government large enough to restrict and regulate an individual's freedom to make their own labor decisions and salary independence and force these individual's to conform to socially acceptable labor standards dictated by a collective. This would allow large government to restrict and enforce salary caps and restrictions along with benefits restrictions so that any salaries above what is socially acceptable can be redistributed to those the larger government deem worthy of the money. We can have big government take money from workers and redistribute it to those on a Tea Party Redistribution Welfare Program.
If we demonize middle class hard working Americans, we can get a majority of people behind an idea that their salaries and everything they worked hard for to be redistributed to elites by portraying millionaires as victims of those who have 5 digit salaries. Why so Socialist?
Millionaires are people too! Please allow big government to restrict and regulate your salary so we can support these poor defenseless millionaires? If you make more money than what is socially dictated by the folks here at Big Government, please donate all you have worked hard for and your cut of Capitalism's American pie to the nearest millionaire near you. Please help a millionaire that are the only one's worthy of Capitalism by handing over your freedom to make your own labor decisions and salary independence to a larger government so that these millionaires can make more millions. It's the patriotic thing to do and whatever you do, ignore this as being a socialist salary redistribution plan since tea partiers are not Socialists as far as anybody believes.
Can you imagine if a chamber of commerce put up a billboard like the one in this articles picture!They would be sued and forced to remove it…
He He…
The one I heard in the Army…..The fastest way to become a PFC in Germany…go there a Sergeant.
"The more laws, the less justice." Cicero
Unionize China.
Actually, that IS what happens under a intrusive Regime. People "run" their business' under the table, and when the time is right (sanity is resumed, etc.) they bring them to the market, already mature. Some may call it the black market, I choose to think of it as non-taxed entrepreneurship.
I am going to be the local incandescent light bulb purveyor, sticking it to the greenies.
actually, it is exactly what we expected; if anything they are not 'bringing it to market' as soon as we thought. But it is bad stuff to be sure, and it is succeeding in one thing- snapping people out of their comas…
I have been stocking up on the good old boy lightbulbs of the past. Stock em up.
Pstt buddy. You wann buy a lightbulb?
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