Study: Government regs waste $46 billion every year

Thanks to federal government regulations, Americans waste 642 million hours every year filling out duplicative paperwork, a new study by American Action Forum reports Thursday. That is the equivalent of 321,000 employees working 2,000 hours annually at a cost of $46 billion.

AAF drew the data from its study from a similar Government Accountability Office report on duplicative government spending. That study found the federal government spends $95 billion on overlapping government programs. AAF then analyzed those overlapping programs and identified 470 different duplicative paperwork requirements in programs ranging from wind energy subsidies to drug abuse prevention.