The Maine Wire
  • News
  • Commentary
  • The Blog
  • About
    • Contact
  • Investigations
    • Data
  • Donate
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending News
  • Louis Sigel Registers As Democratic Primary Opponent to Jared Golden for Maine’s 2nd CD
  • Authorities Investigating Suspected Murder-Suicide at Mexican Restaurant in Berlin, NH
  • Maine Tourism Is in High Gear: Karen’s Tariff Concerns Overblown as Weather Draws Visitors from Near and Far
  • Alfred Man Arrested for Threatening People with a Hockey Stick Found With a Variety of Melee Weapons
  • State Fire Marshal Probes Fireworks Malfunction at Sunday River Resort that Left 3 Injured
  • Sanford Police Announced String of Major Arrests, Including 3 in MDEA Drug Bust
  • Trump-Deranged Maine Community College Prof Replaced in Teaching Role After Gun Control Meltdown
  • Desperate Much? Wealthy White Liberals Reportedly Telling Elected Dems To ‘Get Shot’ Opposing Trump
Facebook Twitter Instagram
The Maine Wire
Tuesday, July 8
  • News
  • Commentary
  • The Blog
  • About
    • Contact
  • Investigations
    • Data
  • Donate
The Maine Wire
Home » News » Commentary » The Cost of Federal Regulations on Maine Businesses
Commentary

The Cost of Federal Regulations on Maine Businesses

Liam SigaudBy Liam SigaudFebruary 4, 2016No Comments2 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

According to the Small Business Administration, the annual cost of federal regulations on business in the United States exceeds $2 trillion. Every year, about 8 billion hours (or the equivalent of 4 million full-time employees) are spent complying with the tens of thousands of tax and regulatory policies issued by hundreds of different federal agencies. These rules control the food we eat, the homes we live in, and the gas we put in our cars. They impact the air we breathe and the water we drink.

A 2010 issue brief by the National Small Business Association noted that, “Unlike big corporations—which have legions of accountants, benefits coordinators, attorneys, personnel administrators, and the like at their disposal—small businesses often are at a loss to keep up with, implement, or afford the overwhelming regulatory and paperwork demands of the federal government.”

Calculating the impact of federal regulation on Maine businesses is no simple task, but some straightforward arithmetic can begin to elucidate the scale of the problem. Maine, according to the Census Bureau, is home to a little more than 33,000 firms (0.58% of all U.S. businesses). Multiplying the $2 trillion nation-wide cost by the proportion of all businesses located in Maine reveals that federal regulations alone – not to mention the numerous state laws and local ordinances the businesses must follow – cost businesses in Maine about $11.6 billion every year. That’s equivalent to $8,900 for every Maine resident. Our total state budget in 2014 was $7.7 billion.

A few simple ideas have been proposed to address the constant increase in federal regulations. Tying government agencies’ budgets to some tangible metric of performance, like the average time taken to issue a permit, would go a long way in motivating bureaucrats to serve the sectors they regulate in a cooperative and business-friendly way. Another approach – which has successfully been implemented in Great Britain and Canada – is to cap the financial regulatory burden the government can impose on the private sector; if the cap were set at, say, $1 trillion, for every additional regulation lawmakers want to create, another would have to be eliminated to preserve budget neutrality.

When government intrusion into private enterprise is costing businesses more than the entire GDP of Canada or Italy, can we say we operate in a free market?

Featured national small business association regulations small business
Previous ArticleConservatives Gaining Ground in Maine
Next Article Greeting the New Year
Liam Sigaud

Liam Sigaud is a former policy analyst at Maine Policy Institute. A native of Rockland, Maine, he holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of Maine at Augusta and has studied policy analysis and economics at the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. He can be reached by email at liam.sigaud@maine.edu.

Subscribe to Substack

Related Posts

Desperate Much? Wealthy White Liberals Reportedly Telling Elected Dems To ‘Get Shot’ Opposing Trump

July 7, 2025

How America Can Break Free From China’s Minerals Stranglehold

July 7, 2025

Bowdoin Graduate Zohran Mamdani and the Echoes of David Duke: Josh Filler

July 5, 2025

Leave A Reply

Subscribe to Substack
Recent News

Louis Sigel Registers As Democratic Primary Opponent to Jared Golden for Maine’s 2nd CD

July 7, 2025

Authorities Investigating Suspected Murder-Suicide at Mexican Restaurant in Berlin, NH

July 7, 2025

Maine Tourism Is in High Gear: Karen’s Tariff Concerns Overblown as Weather Draws Visitors from Near and Far

July 7, 2025

Alfred Man Arrested for Threatening People with a Hockey Stick Found With a Variety of Melee Weapons

July 7, 2025

State Fire Marshal Probes Fireworks Malfunction at Sunday River Resort that Left 3 Injured

July 7, 2025
Newsletter

News

  • News
  • Campaigns & Elections
  • Opinion & Commentary
  • Media Watch
  • Education
  • Media

Maine Wire

  • About the Maine Wire
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Commentary
  • Complaints
  • Maine Policy Institute

Resources

  • Maine Legislature
  • Legislation Finder
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Maine Wire TV

Facebook Twitter Instagram Steam RSS
  • Post Office Box 7829, Portland, Maine 04112

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.