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Small businesses take the biggest hit under new regulations.
A large corporation can handle the new regulations but often those same costs can wipe out a small business's profits, force layoffs, or even drive it out of business altogether. Small-business owners, officials with the General Accounting Office and the Small Business Administration told the Senate panel of instances in which agencies are ignoring the impact of new regulations on small business. The burdens of compliance Witnesses from the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said the Environmental Protection Agency bypassed more than 30 industries it knew would be impacted by one new rule concerning reporting thresholds for lead releases. GAO officials testified that if EPA had examined those industries, it would have found more than 1,000 small businesses facing heavy additional costs from the rule. A Missouri small-business owner echoed the GAO's concerns.