A recent Labor Department report found that the smallest of businesses accounted for a disproportionate share of job losses.  Companies that employed fewer than five workers – where 5.1% of the private sector workforce is employed – accounted for 14.5% of the job losses in the last quarter of 2008.  Since this report runs through the end of 2008, it shows the early impact of the recession on small business owners.

It is clear that most small businesses are struggling to keep their doors open during the current economic downturn.  And what are our policy makers in Washington, DC doing?  Looking at adding new mandates and costly new taxes on our small businesses – at a time when they can least afford it.

That shouldn't surprise any of us who own or a run a small business.   The reach of the federal government has continued to grow over the last decade, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down.

In fact, the biggest debates taking place in Washington, DC this summer are all centered around expanding government regulations on business and industry: 

• Congress's health care proposal is focused on mandating health care coverage for businesses of all shapes and sizes and paying for it with new taxes on employers and employees;

• Congress continues to debate legislation that would expand the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) from companies that employ 50 or more workers to cover businesses with as few as 25 employees;  and

• Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation that would mandate employers to give workers seven paid sick days a year.  There are over 100 co-sponsors on the legislation and they have already had a hearing on the issue.

At the NCPA's Family Policy Center, we believe government should avoid imposing costly mandates on our small businesses, especially at a time when they can least afford it.  It is time for policy makers to find creative solutions to our problems instead of always resorting to creating new regulations.

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