Today’s strike action by 4000 bureaucrats from Inland Revenue and the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment will give small businesses a temporary breather from onerous compliance costs, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“I welcome this action and encourage civil servants to continuing striking.

“Tax and health and safety laws impose significant time and financial costs on the engine room of our economy – small and medium businesses.

“In 2014, academics Ranjana Gupta and Adrian Sawyer found the average cost of tax compliance for SMEs was over $38,000 and was the greatest constraint on the growth of the sector.

“Small business owners need to worry about complying with GST, income tax, PAYE, Kiwisaver, and annual returns – a list that seems to only grow.

“Our health and safety laws also unreasonably burden the private sector.

“A quarter of all businesses in a recent Deloitte survey said the 2015 health and safety law changes increased their costs.

“Many small businesses find it difficult to understand their responsibilities because they aren’t communicated in plain English.

“The Government’s Employment Relations Amendment Bill will add further complexity and impose additional costs, slowing economic growth.

“Politicians and bureaucrats need to understand that each minute and dollar spent complying with tax and health and safety obligations is time and money small businesses are not spending being productive and creating jobs", says Mr Seymour.

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