I’ve spent most of the night watching videos on www.irs.gov explaining everything I need to know about getting Riker Media running – at least from a tax perspective. There are definitely some interesting nuggets of information in these videos, but at some points I’m also feeling like my head will explode. How can anyone keep all these rules straight?

Obviously there are lots of people out there who start and run small businesses every day and somehow muddle through this mess. I have to wonder how many people are scared away by the amount of paperwork and rules that must be taken into account. 

I guess this could be a Darwin-type thing – the strong survive and the weak are weeded out. People who have the will to start and succeed in business will, and the rest will fall away. At a time when our economy is shaky and unemployment is fairly high, one has to wonder if less rules and paperwork would help stimulate small business creation? I realize this won’t happen, but it seems like among the other ideas the government considers to stimulate economic growth, easing rules on businesses would be one well worth a look.

Since I live in NY, taxes and laws and regulations that are unfriendly to business are a very sore point. Our new governor says he will be looking into returning NY to greatness by easing harsh regulations and outrageous taxes. We’ve heard such promises before, but little is every delivered. Hopefully Governor Cuomo will be able to deliver some relief so that business can flourish and our children will want to stay and raise their families here some day.