You’ve paid your federal taxes.
You keep watching the national debt soar.
Do you think those two items cover the full cost of the federal government?
Do you think you’re done paying?
Not even close.
There are also invisible costs that impact you, your family, your neighbors, and your community. These costs afflict . . .
* the teenager who can’t find a summer job because of the federal minimum wage law
* the financially-struggling mom who can’t find toys for her kids at the local thrift store because of the CPSIA
* small businesses that fail because they can’t afford to comply with regulations designed for big businesses
* the local store that closes because of an honest tax-filing mistake
* the budget-strapped state government that’s forced to cut services to comply with unfunded federal mandates
These are just a few examples. Regulations raise your prices and reduce your choices. They could also cost you your job.
If you include the “regulation tax” of compliance expenses and lost income, the total cost of the federal government increases by 34%.
And there’s a grave threat ahead. As Clyde Wayne Crews reports in “Ten Thousand Commandments”. . .
* trillion-dollar deficits will make Congress reluctant to create more tax-and-spend programs
* yet they will want to keep their power and influence
* which means they will likely impose more requirements and regulations on states, business, and even YOU
Think of what they did in the healthcare bill. Not having the guts to raise taxes the old-fashioned way, Congress instead forced you to buy insurance, businesses to provide insurance, and states to create insurance exchanges. Expect more of this behavior. Instead of creating new programs, Congress and the bureaucrats will impose their social goals through mandates and regulations.
Let’s reverse this destructive course! Tell Congress to reduce federal regulations.
You may borrow from or copy this letter . . .
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) reports that federal regulations sucked $1.187 trillion from the economy in 2009. http://cei.org/issue-analysis/2010/04/15/ten-thousand-commandments-2010
That’s a $10,000 tax on each family. In fact, it’s more than what families and corporations will pay in income taxes this year!
$1.187 trillion could also create more than 23 million jobs paying $50,000 a year — more than enough to eliminate unemployment
Cutting regulations would have done far more to create jobs than any of the so-called stimulus spending Congress passed.
But it seems that even the current level of regulation isn’t enough for our ruling class. From “food safety” to “financial reform,” to never-ending proposals for every other aspect of human life, Congress and the bureaucracy seem determined to entangle everything in red tape. But . . .
This will force many businesses to close, and others to move overseas. Americans will lose jobs, and the harm created by unemployment and poverty is almost always greater than the supposed benefits of regulation.
I demand that you reverse this course. Don’t increase regulations, CUT THEM! Here are places to start . . .
1. Tax-related paperwork costs $208 billion, although corporate income taxes raised just $147 billion – a paltry percentage of the budget. Eliminate business taxes to make American firms more competitive. This will attract companies from all over the world.
2. Workplace regulations cost $113 billion, but Congress has no Constitutional authority to regulate employer-employee relationships. Follow the Tenth Amendment and abolish ALL federal regulations of INTRA-state activity.
3. Don’t give in to panic and hysteria. Require a thorough cost-benefit analysis of all economic and environmental regulations. You will find that most regulations are unnecessary because there are already civil and criminal penalties for negligence and fraud.
Cut the invisible $10,000 regulation tax. Unleash the economy and let it come roaring back.
END LETTER
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James Wilson
Assistant Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org
D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
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