Show Red Tape Choking Small Businesses i i 3 1 F- The proliferation of paper work requirements by and local government agencies during recent years is a growing source of irritation and frustration to business firms and THIS WAS the main point brought out in a report just released by Utah the private research According to the the paper work problem is acute for the small entrepreneur who has limited accounting and statistical It also may be one cause of increased unemployment across the nation in that many business firms are reluctant to hire new employees because of the paper work and red tape IN analyzing the extent of the the Foundation came up with the following A 1965 Congressional Committee estimated the cost of Federal paper work requirements at billion billion to government agencies and billion to the public who must furnish the original MORE RECENT es- place the cost of Federal paper work requirements at billion a These amounts relate only to Federal reports and do not include State and local Individuals and business firms spend million man hours each year filling out Federal The average business firm with 50 to 60 employees must fill out 75 to 80 Government forms THE Government Printing Office prints 24 billion forms a year for Federal agencies 12 for every and child residing in the Federal statistical and reporting programs over the past decade have increased at a rate 50 percent greater than the Federal budget AT VARIOUS Congress has expressed concern over the growing reporting problem for business and The study notes that as early as 1942 Congress passed the Federal Reports Act designed to control the burgeoning reporting Despite passage of this the past 30 years have seen the greatest paper work expansion in FOUNDATION analysts point out that a major factor in the growing paper work expansion has been Congress Whenever Congress enacts a new law regulating or a certain aspect of it automatically creates a need for additional reports to insure compliance with that The Foundation offers a number of suggestions and recommendations to improve the reporting and statistical STANDARDIZE the terminology used in the various Carefully weigh the need for the information desired against of providing MAKE better use of existing administrative and tax records for statistical Provide greater cooperation and exchange of information among administrative ELIMINATE in the information provided to the various Improve cooperation among and local governments in reporting REDUCE THE frequency of required reports whenever Increase the use of sampling in gathering statistical SIMPLIFY report Assign some agency or group overall responsibility for paper work WITH RESPECT to the Foundation suggests that much could be done to use existing tax records in order to obtain needed statistical the report indicates that greater coordination of state reports and forms with existing Federal forms could result in huge savings in reporting time for Utah For although the Utah electorate in 1970 decisively approved a state constitutional amendment permitting simplification reporting for state income tax the needed legislation to implement amendment has become 1 1 1 J 1 V k o 2 x n In i- r- s g It ig 70 te tit of le this lis not ot |