Report: Federal Regulatory Compliance Costs $2 Trillion Annually

Reason cites CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews on the release of his new report, the 2026 edition of Ten Thousand Commandments.

“Federal regulation’s total compliance costs and economic effects are at least $2.153 trillion annually, and certainly vastly higher,” comments CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews in Ten Thousand Commandments, 2026, the latest edition of the think tank’s annual regulatory snapshot. “This marker is essentially unchanged from last year, as [President Donald] Trump’s reported annualized regulatory costs savings of approximately $15 billion are offset by inflation applied to legacy economic costs of coincidentally similar magnitude.”

Part of the problem in tallying the total cost of federal regulations is that hundreds of agencies issue an uncountable flood of rules that hobble lives, business, and the economy in unpredictable ways. We know red tape hampers growth and prevents the creation of businesses, but we don’t really know how much better off we’d be in the absence of those administrative burdens.

“Just as consumers shoulder much of the corporate income tax and tariff burden, regulatory compliance costs and mandates borne by businesses percolate through the economy and materialize as higher prices, lost jobs, and lower output,” writes Crews. “Off-budget regulatory costs can drag down the economy, just as overspending can.”

Read more at Reason