I refer to the musings on over-regulation in The Sun today which hits small business more than large business.

Small businesses especially by nature and definition do not have the resources, neither the time to pay undying attention to the ever-increasing plethora of regulations. At one point price control was just on essential items but now even roti canai is subject to price control. In the haste to show concerns for consumers by the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the needless price control is definitely going to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

I always wondered how come roti canai and loaves of bread are under price control, but the ever-increasing cost of generic and branded drugs/medicine is not, as well as banks which are churning out ever increasing billions year on year.

In my opinion, price control is targeting small and retail business as this is within the ambit of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry while the rest are not. It is an easy prey to chalk up the key performance indicators (KPIs), which does not help consumers whatsoever and harmful for national economic development.

What’s worse these laws and enforcement are being done by those who has absolutely no idea how a business is run and therefore could not fathom which is which in their investigation and enforcement.

As it is, a small business will need to submit monthly returns for income tax, Employees Provident (Fund (EPF) and the Social Security Organisation (Socso), and maybe also for the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) which is a ludicrous amount of work.

I have many times suggested just one master form to submit all monthly deductions, but this is never going to happen as everyone has a different system and won’t bother to harmonise as the law is on their side.

The final outcome of this over-the-top regulations for the small fry will be the decimation of small business and destroy the growth engine of our future economy.