Small business is typically hit hardest by government regulation. Often, this has to do with the overhead costs that the regulations impose on businesses, and how small companies are less able to absorb those costs.
We’ve seen the big guys often supporting the proposed regulations that will crush their smaller competitors. See the regulations of toys, employer-based health-insurance, food, tax prep, trucks, minimum wage, tobacco, emissions rules, for a few examples.
But often more damaging than the costs of doing what the regulations tell you to do is the cost of figuring out what the heck the regulations want you to do. A small banker discussed Dodd-Frank with the Washington Post’s Suzy Khimm, and she came away with this:
Exactly. Liberal blogger Kevin Drum at Mother Jones wrote about why big business likes complex rules:
Drum should have distinguished between small business who can’t afford those $500-per-hour lawyers, and the big guys who can.
We saw this dynamic play out on a very granular level with the federal tobacco regulation law, which Philip Morris supported. A trade group for small tobacco retailers and wholesalers filed a comment with the FDA pointing out
And regarding a proposed a ban on flavored cigarattes, the retailers’ rep wrote:
Many Americans who distrust big business the most are also the ones who call for government regulation the most. These two impulses often clash.
