April 15th Tax Burden Worsened by Hidden Taxes

April 15th Tax Burden Worsened by Hidden Taxes
Americans Hit by Excessive Federal Regulations, Threatened by New Energy Rationing

Washington, D.C., April 14, 2008— The tax burden borne by Americans goes well beyond April 15th’s infamous income taxes.

Regulatory compliance costs in excess of $1 trillion annually are a rarely acknowledged “hidden tax” on job creation and enterprise. Moreover, the Obama administration supports legislation that would heap billions in additional hidden taxes on energy despite the current economic slump.

“Regulatory compliance costs rival estimated 2008 individual income taxes of $1.2 trillion, and they dwarf corporate income taxes of $345 billion,” said Wayne Crews, author of the annual report, Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.  The new and updated 2009 report is due out this spring.

 “Especially at a time when many American businesses and families are hurting financially, Congress ought to scale back burdensome and ineffectual regulations,” Crews said. “Ours is the age of Spending Stimulus; what we need instead is a ‘Deregulatory Stimulus’ to jumpstart small business formation and job creation, and get the government off our backs.”

Unfortunately, the President and Congress are actively seeking to pass a major new tax burden  – this time on energy use.

“President Obama’s cap-and-trade proposal to ration energy that is now being considered by the Congress would be an enormous new indirect tax on consumers,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “If enacted, Obama’s energy tax would be the biggest tax increase in history.”