Study: Feds issue $1T in regs since 2005

The federal government has racked up a $1 trillion regulatory tab since 2005.

A new study from the business-friendly American Action Forum (AAF) released Thursday measures regulatory compliance costs from both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations.

These regulatory costs — equivalent to the size of Mexico’s economy — far outpace the $745 billion in benefits from the same rules, according to the federal government’s own estimates.

{mosads}The total translates to about $3,080 per person, the report said.

“These burdens might take the form of higher prices, fewer jobs, or reduced wages,” wrote Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at AAF and the author of the study.

Many of the most expensive regulations have come from the Obama administration.

In August, another AAF report said the Obama administration had issued 600 major rules that alone accounted for $743 billion in regulatory compliance costs.

The Environmental Protection Agency is the “main culprit,” Batkins said, as it has issued the five most expensive regulations over this period, including the Clean Power Plan and mercury standard.

“This should serve as a sobering reminder of the scale of regulatory burdens imposed during the last decade,” Batkins said.