Culture and Freedom

We All Work for the Government!

Comment Written by Lew Davies on 1, October 23, 2009 – 12:16 pm

Think you own your own time?  Think again.  During the year 2008, Americans spent 10 billion hours filling out government forms – federal forms, state forms, local forms, permits…The cost was about $460 billion.  This is more than the entire annual budget expenditures for the entire federal government for any year in U.S. history prior to 1978 and is quite a bit more than the government spends today on Medicare. 

The federal government alone has more than 8,000 individual forms. The amount of time citizens spend completing government forms has increased 1000% since 1981.  The so-called Stimulus Bill passed earlier this year alone has given rise to hundreds of new forms.  Think “Cash for Clunkers.”

The most used federal government form is Standard Form 152, the “Request for Clearance or Cancellation of a Standard Optional Form,” which must be completed to create or modify any of the other forms.  Standard Form 152 must have the name of a designated “Standard and Optional Forms Liaison Representative” and an alternate.  Since the form to create or modify all other forms can be complicated, it comes with a 17-page instruction booklet; and “should be turned in to the General Services Administration 60 days prior to planned implementation. ”

Thought you would want to know.  I don’t know why I thought that.  Sleep well tonight.