I have an SVG file in HTML [....] IS there any way to specify that you want an SVG image displayed smaller or larger than it actually is stored in the file system?
SVG graphics, like other creative works, are protected under copyright law in most countries. Depending on jurisdiction, license of the work or whether or not you are the copyright holder you may not be able to modify the SVG without violating copyright law, believe it or not.
But laws are tricky topics and sometimes you just want to get shit done. Therefore you may adjust the scale of the graphic without modifying the work itself using the img tag with width attribute within your HTML.
Using an external HTTP request to specify the size:
Specifying size in markup using a Data URI:
SVGs can be Optimized for Data URIs to create SVG Favicon images suitable for any size: