The US, and in fact all industrialised markets have a megacap problem. The largest companies in a country or sector take up an ever-increasing share of the market, squeezing out smaller competitors. Just take a look at the profits relative to GDP of major US tech companies
Perhaps you could chart the increases in regulatory compliance obligations with the dominance of large corporations. The overhead for startups and small business is a real barrier across all industries. There might be a case for excusing small business from all regulatory obligations until such point that their size indicates that they can afford to comply.
The UK. Simply opening a shop is a huge amount of paperwork and compliance with local council requirements. Add to that the tax admin and employment regulations which have to be satisfied BEFORE you can trade and I wonder why anyone would bother to attempt to start a business.
The world you describe no longer exists. My client needs a VAT registration. More than 6 weeks ago we did the registration. Still no sign of the VAT number needed. Their sales are over the threshold so they are liable to pay the VAT from the date of the registration, BUT they cannot charge their customers VAT because they don't yet have a number. The solution from HMRC is to increase prices by 20 % whilst they wait for the VAT registration to be processed. - I kid you not - "You cannot include VAT on your invoices until you get your VAT number but you can increase your prices to account for the VAT you’ll need to pay to HMRC." You, Joachim, and I, are sophisticated and "process savvy" individuals, most small business owners are not. Personally this suits me because I have many clients who just cannot understand what they need to do to comply with the regulations. They pay me to advise them on getting it right. They shouldn't need to.
Perhaps you could chart the increases in regulatory compliance obligations with the dominance of large corporations. The overhead for startups and small business is a real barrier across all industries. There might be a case for excusing small business from all regulatory obligations until such point that their size indicates that they can afford to comply.
The UK. Simply opening a shop is a huge amount of paperwork and compliance with local council requirements. Add to that the tax admin and employment regulations which have to be satisfied BEFORE you can trade and I wonder why anyone would bother to attempt to start a business.
The world you describe no longer exists. My client needs a VAT registration. More than 6 weeks ago we did the registration. Still no sign of the VAT number needed. Their sales are over the threshold so they are liable to pay the VAT from the date of the registration, BUT they cannot charge their customers VAT because they don't yet have a number. The solution from HMRC is to increase prices by 20 % whilst they wait for the VAT registration to be processed. - I kid you not - "You cannot include VAT on your invoices until you get your VAT number but you can increase your prices to account for the VAT you’ll need to pay to HMRC." You, Joachim, and I, are sophisticated and "process savvy" individuals, most small business owners are not. Personally this suits me because I have many clients who just cannot understand what they need to do to comply with the regulations. They pay me to advise them on getting it right. They shouldn't need to.