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OMB Reports to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has submitted its 2008 Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations. This OMB Report is prepared to implement the Regulatory Right-to-Know Act. This is the eleventh annual Report since OMB began issuing the Reports in 1997.

Among other features, the Report estimates the total benefits and costs of regulations issued by the U.S. federal government. This year's Report concludes that "the estimated annual benefits of major Federal regulations reviewed by OMB from October 1, 1997 to September 30, 2007 range from $122 billion to $656 billion, while the estimated annual costs range from $46 billion to $54 billion. These totals are somewhat higher than the benefits and costs reported last year."

The Report also includes the latest results of OMB's our ongoing historical examination of the trends in Federal regulatory activity. The Report concludes that

The estimated average annual costs of major regulations reviewed by OMB and issued over the last seven years is about $4.1 billion, which is about 24% less than the estimated annual average costs of $5.5 billion over the previous 20 years.
Over the last 27 years, the major regulations reviewed by OMB have added at least $139 billion to the overall yearly costs of regulations on the public.
The estimated benefits of major regulations issued from 1992 to 2007 exceed the estimated costs by more than four fold. The estimated benefits of major regulations issued over the last seven years exceed the costs by more than seven fold.

Click here to read OMB's Report