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The Costs of Regulation
Posted by Raven on December 6th, 2004
The federal government funds programs in three primary ways. The first is by raising taxes to pay for new programs. The second is by borrowing money to pay for them (with a promise to pay back the borrowed money, with interest, from taxes collected in the future). No matter how controversial government spending programs can be, taxpayers can always see how much they cost by looking at the federal budget. Congress is largely held accountable for spending programs, and that accountability,though not perfect, is a fundamental, necessary condition for controlling government.
The third way the government funds its programs directly through regulation: That is, rather than pay and book the expense of a new initiative,it can require that the private sector and lowerlevel governments pay. By regulating, the government can carry out desired programs but avoid using tax dollars to fund them. That process sometimes allows Congress to escape accountability and to blame agencies for costs. Since disclosure of and accountability for the costs of regulation are limited, there is limited incentive for policymakers to care about the extent of regulatory costs, or where those costs stand in relation to ordinary government spending. Since regulatory costs are unbudgeted and lack the formal presentation to the public and media to which ordinary federal spending is subject, regulatory initiatives allow the government to direct privatesector resources to a significant degree without much public fuss. In that sense regulation can be thought of as off-budget taxation.
Per Employee Regulatory Costs Higher for Small Firms, 2000:
Size of Firm Regulatory Costs per Employee
Large
500 + employees $4,464
Medium
20–499 employees $4,319
Small
1-20 employee(s) $6,975
Where the Regulation Money goes:
Economic: $444 b.
Workplace: $84 b.
Tax Compliance: $132 b.
Environmental Regulations: $201 b.
December 8th, 2004 at 7:36 am
We should stop the environmental bull IMHO.
December 8th, 2004 at 4:18 pm
I just rea that this years federal register is almost 19000 pages long, with somewhere between 1300-1500 new regulations on the book. Can anyone even begin to imagine how much this is going to cost all of us? In the end, it we the people who cough up the costs of all the stupid regs. And yes-99% of the regs are stupid and not needed.:???: