Federal Regulations Now Cost Almost $1.9 Trillion, Study Finds

Investor's Business Daily reports on Clyde Wayne Crews's annual analysis on the costs of regulations. 

CEI’s latest “10,000 Commandments” adds up the total cost of federal rules and regulations, and should be required reading for anyone espousing still more government control over the economy. What it shows is that the country is increasingly being ruled not by elected representatives, but by unelected and largely unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington.

The CEI report shows that economic regulations (such as market entry restrictions, price supports and the like) impose the biggest costs at $399 billion. That’s followed by environmental regulations at $386 billion, and — incredibly — the cost of complying with the tax code, which is expected to be $316 billion this year.

The problem is that these costs never show up in any federal budget as a cost of government. They just get hidden in higher prices, lower take home pay, more unemployment, less opportunity.

As a result, as author Clyde Wayne Crews explains: “Regulatory initiatives can enable federal commandeering of private sector resources with comparatively little public fuss, rendering regulation a form of off-budget taxation. Policymakers find it easier to impose regulatory costs than to embark on more government spending because of the former’s lack of disclosure and accountability for costs. Furthermore, where regulatory compliance costs prove burdensome, Congress can escape accountability by blaming an agency for issuing an unpopular rule.”

Read the full article at Investor's Business Daily.