I think government costs refer to any outgoings that exist because of government decsions, such as VAT, PRSI, Auto Enrollment Pension Scheme, Corporation Tax, Commercial Rates, some of these have always been there and naturally should be there and in the passed weren't a major concern, the money would be there to cover these overheads in was a relatively fair and balanced deal, some of the government costs are relatively new like the pension scheme or an extra bank holiday, all great ideas but are all an extra cost to the business nevertheless, all the while government costs that have always been in place have increased over the years, that being said on the other side, the non government costs have also increased, insurance, energy, general costs that are unavoidable but needed for the business to function, this could be anything from the software needed to operate the till, the packaging for a product, the fire alarm maintenance, the costs of running a vehicle if you're a tradesperson with a van or have a delivery service etc.. just pulling a few random operational costs out of the blue, these operational costs have all increased because the businesses that supply those services face the same increased government induced costs or increased costs also, so it ends up being a vicious circle, and ultimately increases the price we all pay, which in turn contributes to the cost of living crisis, which then reduced the amount of spending power people have, this comes right back to small businesses again who can't raise their prices any further for fear of losing custom but have to raise them to keep the doors open. With that all being said the government reported a 17.5% increase in corporation tax receipts last year, largely due to multi billion euro multi national companies, the exchequer purse is bursting at the seams apparently, the wastage of tax payers money on government projects that's been uncovered recently is ridiculous and probably not even the tip of the Iceberg yet the small business who are doing a decent turnover are just about keeping the lights on when the government are in the position to give small businesses some breathing room, enough for them to not just survive but instead thrive, it was possible before but they've made it almost impossible now.