Friday, July 24, 2009 Why does the government make things so hard? By Eric Koefoot @ 12:19 PM :: 794 Views :: 1 Comments :: Eric Koefoot Blog, Start Up World   Our government makes it far too difficult to set up a business.  Deal with the pain of product planning, hiring, cash flow management, and customer care, and then add the startup (and often ongoing) stress of sorting out the various forms and filings with different agencies, and you can go mad. I really wonder whether these bureaucrats "eat their own dog food."  How many of them are entrepreneurs or business owners themselves?  And I am not talking about the millionaires who pay people to do all the sorting out and filing for them.  I am talking about us bootstrap entrepreneurs - ones who make up 80% of the Inc. 500 and contribute to the majority of job growth in the country over the past 10-15 years. The web has helped to some degree, taking a manual, paper-centric process and allowing a degree of digital information, forms, and filings.  Snail Mail is still pretty common with many filings, though.  But my bigger issue is the lack of technology applied to make the governments' "customer care" a better experience. Have you ever used Turbo Tax?  It is perhaps one of the finest examples of consumer-led information collection and funneling out there.  Take the amazingly complex tax code and refine it into a series of yes/no questions and simple data entry forms that just about anybody can use to complete their taxes in a fraction of the time it took before.  So why don't we have a Turbotax-type interface for business registrations, filings, and certifications?  Imagine that instead of wading through web page after web page of drivel that usually does not apply to you and your business (and the good stuff is mixed in with the useless, of course), you could easily answer questions yes/no and enter simple data that is then used in multiple ways, in multiple filings. Think about it -- if I am forming an LLC, that could be the first question I am asked: "What kind of entity are you forming?" .  Once I identify myself as an LLC, every question, page, and form I am presented with will be relevant only to LLCs.  Then if I identify my business line, say software development, every choice after that is based on that disclosure.  No more "if you are a restaurant, you need XYZ, but if you are selling telecommunications, fill out form ABC."  Yes, this would take someone smart - really smart - to map out ALL of the forms, ALL of the entity types, and ALL of the testing questions to funnel someone correctly.  But if Quicken can do it, why not your state government?  And why stop there?  If they can cross-connect with the various counties, then the data can flow to their forms and the county's own Turbotax interface -- which, by the way, does not ask any questions you've already answered for the state, and funnels you based on data already provided to the state. The only people who probably would not like this plan are the attorneys who make easy money handling the filings for their clients.  They'll get over it. So why aren't states doing more of this? It is 2009, isn't it?

Comments By Anonymous User @ Sunday, August 16, 2009 1:16 PM Fed gov't is headed down the road of socialism with very limited support for business. We are to be taken care of....................The US of Europe. Click Here to post a comment