Federal Regulations

“The current regulatory burden coming out of Washington far exceeds the federal government’s constitutional mandate, and it’s hurting job creation in our country at a time when we can’t afford it,” Cantor’s fellow House Republican, Speaker John Boehner, said in a speech to the Economic Club of Washington last week. Whether it’s in a Republican job agenda, a presidential executive order or a think tank report, some government regulations have been targeted as avoidable burdens. And at a time when job creation is the most important goal of most lawmakers, decreasing businesses’ regulatory burden is one way politicians, especially Republicans, are looking to motivate private businesses to create jobs. Even with claims that American businesses have too many regulations and are over-burdened “ the United States still ranks as one of the best countries to start a business. Worldwide, only Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have a more business friendly environment” according to the 2010 International Finance Corporation and World Bank “Doing Business” report. In spite of the U.S. having an overall good rankings worldwide, regulations still remain a major hardship for American businesses, although the exact price tag for federal regulations is highly disputed. Federal regulations are divided into four categories: environmental, economic, workplace and tax compliance. All told, in 2000 federal regulations cost small firms (less than 20 employees) nearly $7,000 per employee annually. Compliance costs for medium size firms (20 to 499 employees) and for large firms (500+ employees) were close to $4,320 and $4,460 per employee respectively. “There’s no bright line in the sand that tells you this is too much this is too little,” said James Gattuso, a senior fellow for regulatory policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “That’s one thing that makes regulatory policies so tough.”

Source: CNN and New York Times online newspaper