Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for April 18, 2017
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
April 18, 2017: The federal government expects to spend $70 billion on 77 federal regulatory agencies in Fiscal Year 2017.
After adjusting for inflation, that number is nearly double the regulatory agency budgets when George W. Bush was elected president in 2000. It’s up 28 percent since Barack Obama was elected president in 2008.
In recent years, the Department of Homeland Security has seen the fastest growth of any regulatory agency. The agencies now in that department had a $7.8 billion budget in 2000 and are expected to spend $32.5 billion in 2017.
The growth of the regulatory state took off in the late 1960s, particularly during the administration of Richard M. Nixon. Even after adjusting for inflation, the federal regulatory budget doubled during the six years between his electoral victory in 1968 and his resignation in 1974.
An earlier Number of the Day highlighted the explosive growth of regulatory agency staffing in recent decades.
| Federal regulatory spending, in millions of current dollars | |
|---|---|
| 1960 | 533 |
| 1970 | 1,584 |
| 1980 | 7,303 |
| 1990 | 13,683 |
| 2000 | 25,415 |
| 2010 | 53,887 |
| 2017 | 69,995 |
| Source: Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis and the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center in Washington, D.C. Derived from federal budget data. | |
These figures include only agencies that directly regulate private sector behavior. Agencies that set rules for taxes, entitlements, and other government programs are not included. For example, the IRS and its roughly $11 billion annual budget is not included. As a result, the total number of regulatory spending is actually higher than the figures indicated above.
Federal regulatory budgets have increased for 50 of the last 57 years (after adjusting for inflation). Only once did the regulatory spending fall two years in a row. That happened in 1981 and 1982, the first two years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. However, even with a president committed to reducing the regulatory burden in office, regulatory spending increased by 10 percent from 1980 to 1988.
| Federal regulatory spending, in millions of constant 2009 dollars (to adjust for inflation)[1] | |
|---|---|
| 1960 | 3,035 |
| 1970 | 6,954 |
| 1980 | 16,456 |
| 1990 | 20,492 |
| 2000 | 31,036 |
| 2010 | 53,237 |
| 2017 | 61,053 |
| Source: Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis and the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center in Washington, D.C. Derived from federal budget data. | |
- Monday's number looked at the $29.6 billion spent annually on tax preparation fees and software.
- Friday commemorated the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the Major League color barrier.
- Thursday's number looked at the 261 million visits to the IRS website in 2017.
- To see other recent numbers, check out the archive.
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ "Constant dollars" refers to the adjustment of dollar figures to account for changed purchasing power due to inflation.
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