Study: U.S. Regulatory Costs Are Mounting

For the last 13 years, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization called the American Action Forum (AAF) has kept track of the total costs of regulations issued by the U.S. government. In a recent report AAF noted that, since January 1, 2024 alone, the federal government has published regulations that would impose $960.6 billion in total net costs and represent an increase of 13.9 million hours in organizations’ net annual paperwork burdens.

The AAF also calculated that Biden-era regulatory costs now exceed $1 trillion. The average cost per regulation is more than $1.5 billion, or about six times the average cost of a regulation issued during the last Democratic administration, which was led by President Barack Obama. Read more here.

While that total is staggering, the AAF’s review was done before the Federal Trade Commission released its regulation banning noncompete agreements and before the Environmental Protection Agency issued four final rules governing greenhouse gas emissions by power plants.

Want to learn more about these costs? Stay tuned for registration for the Metals Service Center’s annual Economic Summit, which will feature remarks by AAF President Douglas Holtz-Eakin.