76-03-B4

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Government Forms

Transcript Congress has just passed a new tax reform bill. I don't think it will be greeted by dancing in the streets. I’ll be right back. More than 200 years ago we said of George III, “he has sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people be eat out their substance.”1 I wonder what the Founding Fathers would say about the modern day swarm who harass and eat of our substance? I know I’ve talked to you before in broad, general terms about the “blizzard of paper” we are asked (demanded is a better word) to send to Wash. The other day I was reading a roundup of stories about individual victims of the paper blizzard. And then I read of the final passage and signing into law of the tax reform bill. It is 5 inches thick, (1500 pages) and economists who have studied it say they don't understand it. Happy next April to us all! The one thing we do should understand is the Congress which talked for so long about helping the taxpayers by reforming the system has helped itself in this reform to an additional $1.6 Billion. The National Chamber of Commerce has done some research on the paper blizzard and finds that of the 20 reports most frequently demanded by Washington, 13 are by the Internal Revenue Service. Next in line is O.S.H.A.—the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The Chamber was trying to help the Commission on Paperwork2 which is suppose to be eliminating red tape. Not only does the I.R.S. have the most forms they also take the most time be effort to fill out. By coincidence I.R.S. is the only agency exempt from any effort to reduce or simplify its paper work. The Chamber found the citizenry in almost the same revolutionary mood our ancestors were in 200 yrs. ago. One businessman in the Northwest told of providing a 74-page report in 1973 for the Equal Employment Opportunity inspector who personally visited his plant. In 1974 a second inspector refused to accept the report approved by his predecessor but finally settled for 145 pages. You are probably already ahead of me on this one—yes in 1975 a new inspector refused to accept the program until the report reached 395 pages. The same news source told of a banker who filled in a form writing “none” where that was the appropriate answer. The form with it’s six required copies was returned to be re-done using a “O” where the the word “none” appeared. A Midwest manufacturer can only spend half his time running his business. The rest of the time he’s doing government paperwork. A small engineering firm completed 1,342 state & Federal forms in one year. On a 5 day a week basis that’s more than 5 forms a day to be filled out each working day. I am not advocating an overthrow of the government by force and violence but isn’t it time to buttonhole our congressmen when they come week ending home? Let's ask them for proof that these reports do anything more than provide jobs for a bunch of bureaucratic paper shufflers. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 76-03-B4 Production Date 10/18/1976 Book/Page RPtV-77 Audio No Youtube? No
		Added Notes from the book: This is from the American Declaration of Independence, the tenth charge against King George III of England in a long list of grievances. The Federal Commission on Paperwork looked at the proliferation of government requests for information and the management of resulting data. Its recommendations led to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980. Information policy was centralized in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, part of the Office of Management and Budget.