The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) recently released “Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State,” which shows that federal regulations and interventions cost U.S. consumers and the economy $1.885 trillion in 2015.
“The federal government has become very savvy in hiding costs by expanding their reach beyond taxes into regulations,” CEI Vice President for Policy Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., who wrote the report, said. “Unfortunately, regulatory costs get little attention in policy debates because unlike taxes, they are difficult to quantify because they are unbudgeted and often indirect. But the impacts of burdensome regulations are very real and increase costs for consumers and businesses, limiting productivity and a thriving free market.”
The report found that 2015 saw 114 new laws enacted by Congress and 3,410 new rules issued by federal agencies, for a ratio of 30-to-1. Additionally, 60 federal departments, agencies and commissions are currently working to enact a further 3,297 regulations. The report said the Treasury, Commerce, Interior, Health and Human Services, and Transportation Departments are responsible for 41 percent of all of these new regulations.
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