"Tech" small businesses are doing just fine. And they represent only a tiny fraction of small businesses, probably even more so when you measure by employment,

"Tech" small businesses are doing just fine. And they represent only a tiny fraction of small businesses, probably even more so when you measure by employment, which is what people tend to care about. As someone who has cofounded both a tech company and a traditional bricks-and-mortar small business, I can assure you that the traditional small business has slogged through copious red tape. It's true that much of it is state and local, rather than federal, but that's small comfort. You might think that a reasonably smart person should be able to independently figure out how to pay a dozen employees without accidentally breaking the law and getting fined. You would be wrong. The payroll processing industry doesn't exist because it's hard to write checks. They exist because it's absurdly difficult for a non-specialist to be compliant without expending disproportionate effort.