Small Business and Government
As a former small business owner and a staunch advocate for small business here at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, I understand the feelings of many entrepreneurs when it comes to government, less is more. My favorite saying when I was in business was, “the only handout I wanted was the governments hand out of my pocket.” So it is not surprising that many in business would not naturally look toward the government to champion their causes or provide them needed assistance. Unfortunately, by doing so one passes up a wealth of resources that could provide much needed relief or direction.
A case on point, last year a member called with a concern regarding a required government license that was needed run his business. The fee to submit this license increased from $5,000 a year to $12,500 a year because his business was reclassified into another category. The technical issue he raised about why his status changed was a valid one and I called the Office of the National Ombudsman to address the problem. Inside of 30 days the small business ombudsman had the problem corrected and the fee was reduced for subsequent years.
A little known fact is that staff from this office travel around the country to find situations where they can intercede on behalf of small business owners when the business owner experiences excessive or unfair federal regulatory enforcement actions, such as repetitive audits or investigations, excessive fines, penalties, threats, retaliation or other unfair enforcement action by a federal agency.
Even before a regulation becomes final, small businesses have a champion in the government advocating on their behalf in the Chief Counsel for the Office of Advocacy. Every year regulations cost us over a trillion dollars. These regulations have a disproportional impact on small business then their larger counterparts. In order to level the playing field, small business lobbyists, like myself, have promoted a whole body of legislation that in effect “Regulates the Regulators” and require the agencies to be sensitive to the impact of their initiatives on the small business community. The “watch dog” for this effort – the Chief Counsel for Advocacy – and they save small businesses billions of dollars a year.
Good government must shed the “Gotcha” mentality and understand that for most small business owners it is an issue of surviving in a complex and complicated world in which they are responsible for understanding much more than the core competencies of running a business. When regulations make sense and are reasonable, compliance becomes more palatable. When lawmakers understand, and many do, that promoting pro-small business policies and programs that foster entrepreneurship, everyone benefits. When government is held accountable and transparent, everyone wins. I will take as many people fighting for this cause whether inside or outside the government.
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