Snapshot of Burdensome Regulation

The Competitive Enterprise Institute's "Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Regulatory State," issued in June, found:

• Regulatory costs hit an estimated $1.127 trillion in 2005.

• Regulatory costs are more than triple the 2005 budget deficit of $318 billion.

• Regulatory costs exceed all corporate pre-tax profits, which were $874 billion in 2003.

• Regulatory costs exceed estimated 2005 individual income taxes of $894 billion, and are far greater than corporate income taxes of $226 billion.

• Federal regulatory costs of $1.127 trillion combined with outlays of $2.472 billion bring the federal government's share of the economy to 29 percent, compared to 27 percent a year ago.

• Agencies spent $38.3 billion merely to administer and police the regulatory state in 2005. Counting the $1.127 trillion in off-budget costs, that brings the total regulatory burden to $1.165 trillion.

• Agencies reported on 4,062 regulations that were at various stages of implementation throughout the 50-plus federal departments, agencies, and commissions.

• Of the 4,062 regulations now in the regulatory pipeline, 137 are "economically significant" rules that will have at least $100 million in economic impact. Those rules will impose at least $13.7 billion yearly in future off-budget costs.

• The five most active rule-producing agencies--the departments of Treasury, Interior, Commerce, and Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency, with 1,808 rules among them--account for 44 percent of all rules in the Unified Agenda pipeline.

• Of the 4,062 regulations now in the works, 788 affect small business.