Regulations: The Hidden Tax

Cal Thomas | Syndicated Columnist | Updated: Apr 25, 2011

Regulations: The Hidden Tax

April 19, 2011

Did you file your taxes by midnight last night?

You know most of it is going for entitlements and interest on the debt, but a lot – $1.75 trillion – pays for federal regulations, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. That’s greater than the federal budget deficit projected to be $1.48 trillion this year and greater than all corporate pre-tax profits.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has compiled a booklet about all this called “Ten Thousand Comandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.”

Did you know the federal register has a record 81,405 pages, and that in 2010, federal agencies issued 3,573 rules? These rules amount to a hidden tax on businesses and industry because of the cost of complying government doesn’t have to pay for any of the rules they make. The CEI estimates government’s share of the entire economy is now 35.5 percent. The private sector is being suffocated.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

Regulations: The Hidden Tax