New and complex government regulations — especially rules connected to taxes, health care and employee safety—can discourage small business growth and entrepreneurship, according to new data from the National Retail Federation.
The reasons? Owners of small businesses often work long hours and handle a wide variety of operational responsibilities, ranging from signing paychecks to sweeping floors. As a result, learning to understand, adapt to and pay for new and changing business-related laws, in addition to managing regular day-to-day responsibilities, can be daunting, the National Retail Federation reports. The changes can also make growth difficult.
“Keeping track of all these regulations isn’t just a nuisance to small retailers—it diverts retailers from their principal task of running a successful business,” the National Retail Federation says. “As the compliance burden grows, they worry that employees will suffer. Two-thirds of retail small business owners fear they will have to cut benefits for workers because of the increasing costs of regulatory compliance.”