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Why Small Business Saturday Costs More Than You Think
PUBLISHED: November 29, 2025
When you’re in line at your favorite small business on Small Business Saturday, you’re probably not thinking about how the rules the government creates affect your purchases. Here in Washington, D.C., it’s easy for policymakers and bureaucrats to lose sight of how poorly crafted rules can impact your costs at the point of sale, or how paperwork burdens hamper the ability of your favorite local shop to provide excellent service and a robust selection of merchandise.
Start with the mountain of paperwork that the boutique or specialty store you’re frequenting faces. These direct costs hurt that store’s margins and take up time for the owner and the staff as they provide a service to you and your community. That, in turn, makes your experience whenever you shop more painful than it should be.
Paperwork comes in lots of forms. For instance, the Internal Revenue Service requires every business with employees, from the largest tech companies to the smallest boutique, to file Form 941, the “Employer’s Quarterly Tax Return,” four times per year.
Chief Counsel Casey B. Mulligan has done extensive research on this form and finds that it is the fifth largest paperwork burden the government puts on citizens, accounting for 470 million hours of time.
Moving to yearly reporting would save small businesses 224 million hours and $20.1 billion annually, freeing up time for your favorite local businesses to increase staffing at the register and lower their prices. That allows these shops to pass those lower costs onto you.
Washington’s paperwork burden does not only come in the form of tax forms. Rules like the Consumer Product Safety Commission Certificates of Compliance require additional paperwork in the form of product registration for every single import and increase the stakes for clerical errors.
If you are buying a German board game for your brother, or a Japanese collectible for your daughter, the small hobby shop that imports your purchase must electronically upload a slew of information for each unique product. If there are any inconsistencies at Customs, the shipment is flagged for additional review. That means delays, rejections, or seizure for the business, and an unhappy Christmas for your family.
These paperwork burdens are so severe that Advocacy has placed both Form 941 and the certificates of compliance rule on our list of Most Wanted reforms. Washington’s choice to bury America’s Main Street under mountains of paperwork affects your time in line and your ability to choose what to buy your family for the holidays.
These problems are only the tip of the iceberg. The stores you frequent also deal with upstream, or indirect costs, from rules. If the government imposes rules that lead to costs on producers of raw materials or manufactured goods, those producers then must pass those costs down to wholesalers, retailers, or consumers. Worst of all, the impact analyses that agencies conduct to demonstrate the costs of these rules on small businesses often do not consider these indirect costs at all.
A rule like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule is a good example. The decorations you might pick up for Christmas at your local winter market might become more expensive because the small manufacturers that produce them would be required to meet very specific heat-mitigation requirements. Many of those requirements are burdensome thanks to a one-size-fits-all standard.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that set fuel emissions standards also drive up the costs of your holiday. If the local tree farm needs to switch to a more efficient vehicle, it costs thousands of dollars, and those costs get passed on to you. Under President Trump, the EPA is removing those regulations, with a potential cost savings in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
As you shop this Small Business Saturday, remember how rulemakers in Washington impact your costs and your choices. Advocacy is here to actively work with regulators in Washington, D.C. to reduce that burden, freeing up small businesses all over the United States, growing the economy, and driving down the cost of your Christmas.