Thras #40:

Back around 1993 a study came out that had been conducted by 3 Senators. I do not recall who all of them were but I am sure one of them was Sen Rudman.

The study showed that for every $1.00 collected in Federal taxes, the private sector spent another 40 cents to comply with IRS regulations. That sounds horrible but I find it believable, especially if you include costs and lost opportunities associated with tax avoidance.

Now that 40 cents does not count the cost of other regulations that are not associated with taxes directly. Consider what has happened in the area of light aircraft. After steadily increasing the requirements for private pilot licensing for decades, the FAA came out with a Sport Pilot license, which offers reduced privileges in return for an easier licensing process. The result was an explosion of new production light aircraft in what had been an almost moribund industry. BUT – most of those are being built in Europe, which has terrible limitations on private flying.