> What you end up with is equivalent to a denial-of-service attack against rates authority staff. They're overwhelmed.

On the other side it provides pressure on tax authorities to finally digitize their processes and automate what's possible. Ideally, an application review should not be more than 10 or 15 minutes - clerk opens digital file, reviews attached floor plannings and previous tax filings/business plans (or the system automatically has the flag "this is a small business" attached), clicks on either approve or deny button, system automatically sends paperwork to the applicant.

The only way that forces authorities to modernize their processes is when the demand grows large enough that the ROI calculation proves it.