Where to Begin with Regulatory Reform
Bringing regulation up to the admittedly low standard with which Congress treats fiscal policy would still be a huge improvement.
National Review cited CEI on 10 Thousand Commandments report
utting federal regulations can feel a little bit like being a mosquito in a nudist colony: It’s hard to know where to begin.
This year’s Ten Thousand Commandments report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute puts the annual cost of federal regulations at $2.1 trillion. That’s almost as large as the entire burden of the individual income tax, and about four times as large as the burden of the corporate tax. It’s greater than the budget deficit, and equals about 8 percent of GDP.
And it’s probably a conservative estimate. The National Association of Manufacturers estimates regulatory costs above $3 trillion. The regulatory state is so sprawling and its effects are so poorly analyzed that it’s difficult to say what its burden is within a trillion dollars.
CEI has published the Ten Thousand Commandments report since 1993, as an annual reminder of government arrogance. God has His rules on two stone tablets, and He only asks for 10 percent of your income. The federal government has its rules in 243 bound volumes, and it took 16 percent of the national income last year and still didn’t come close to paying its bills. And both of those are underestimates, too.
The report says, “Congress needs to take regulatory policy at least as seriously as it takes fiscal policy.” Of course, it doesn’t take fiscal policy that seriously, as the massive deficit indicates.