WHADDAYA MEAN, OUR RULES AREN’T ESSENTIAL?

An item posted by the New York Daily News on Saturday reports on a New York City restaurant that blamed onerous city and state regulations for making continued operation of the business infeasible.  The funny/infuriating part was the completely un-self-aware response by the city.  Quoting from the new item:
“The de Blasio administration noted the city provides free help to small businesses. The 'Small Business First' initiative helps owners save time and money while reducing the amount of paperwork.”
Translation: Don’t blame us for the mountain of bureaucratic reporting we created.  After all, we offered to help you with it!   
That response reminds me of the proposal to improve the tax return preparation process by regulating tax preparers.  The idea of making the reporting process less onerous by reducing the regulations that require reporting never occurs to the regulators.  I think the problem is that in the minds of the regulators, every regulation is life-or-death essential.  
Via Overlawyered.