Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 17, 1993 TAG: 9302170331
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DON'T KILL GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGG
A REPORT recently prepared for Congressman Dick Armey by Congress' Joint Economic Committee is frightening if you operate a small business."Derailing the Small Business Express" states that even though our economy has experienced six consecutive quarters of growth in the gross domestic product, job growth and job recovery remain very low. Why? The slow pace of job growth is largely the result of new laws and regulations on the books since 1989 that have made it very difficult for employers to expand and add new hires.
The Joint Economic Committee cites a variety of examples that have made expansion and hiring so expensive and risky, because of possible legal entanglements, that most small businesses are afraid (can't afford the risk) to hire and plan for growth. The report estimates that operating costs for American business have increased by $130 billion since 1990, due to new regulations. Hardest hit have been the historical creators of new jobs - small businesses - which have had to scale back expansion and cut back on personnel. Rehiring, even when the economy is on a rebound, has been delayed, perhaps indefinitely.
What makes the problem even more disturbing is the fact that many in Congress desire to increase the burden even more this year by mandating a variety of programs that must be funded by business. In addition, there will be tax legislation that will increase income taxes for so-called wealthy Americans. In essence, this will be a tax increase on small business.
More than 90 percent of all business in this country is small business, which is the locomotive that will pull our economy up the track toward increased employment and prosperity. That locomotive is being derailed by recent and proposed government overregulation.
Elected officials need to give small business a chance to do what it does best - create new jobs. Dollars that small business is forced to spend for nonproductive government regulations is usually passed on to the consumer as price increases (inflation) in a strong economy. When the economy is weak (as it has been for some time), those costs have to be diverted from growth and job creation.
Congress has long viewed small business as the goose that lays golden eggs where job creation is concerned. That goose is presently in serious condition and at risk of dying from a curable disease called overregulation. BILL CORBITT JR. Chairman Blue Stone Block, Inc. ROANOKE