Let's figure out how to make this contagious!

I can give you a short answer based upon 30 years of manufacturing business ownership, and another 5 managing a profit center as an employee in similar industries.
The regulations, taxes, fees levied across a genre of activity is leveraged to economy of scale. Small business is forced to try to cover this by raising prices, sometimes to the point of relocation to less expensive overhead. Sometimes the burden is not worth the effort of continuing commerce. The cost per man hour productivity and profit gets too high.
Case: From 2002 - 2006 my property tax expense went from 2k to 8k annual, storm water runoff fees of $1200 per year beginning 2003, extra hazardous waste and fire inspection fees. There was an attempt to re-classify my business in SIC Code that would result in higher unemployment taxes. Customers began sourcing elsewhere from my services and products, only to find the increases across the "supply" base.
1995-6 Clean Air Act affected costs through regulations on automotive fuels. GE and Toshiba Electric had synchronously developed new electric motor technology. GE was applying this to diesel driven motors on freight rail transport. The technology was projected to reduce fuel consumption 32% to 35% across the second largest consumer in the country, first being the US Navy. Best guess is that players in the refining industry lobbied for the "Act". The more processes needed to "clean" automotive (Semi Freight) resulted in a "profit" per stage of process....and for the first time the price of diesel exceeded regular gas. Revenue rate/volume continued for the refineries for less fuel produced overall. Cost passed indirectly to the general consumer.
Auto safety crash testing is a similar scenario. There are similar scenarios in electric power generation. Combinations of government and large corporate forces such as OSHA, JIT, ISO and 6-Sigma are geared toward large business. I've had two customers suspend their Requirements to Contract, regarding ISO and 6-Sigma, in order to do business with me......I've no "Box" to be outside of.

there's a nutshell expression to ponder and explore a bit