Americans Spent Nearly 10 Billion Hours on Government Forms Last Year
- 9.9 billion: Number of hours Americans spent on government paperwork last year
- 2 billion: Increase in hours from 2004, a 25 percent increase
- 1 billion: Estimated number of hours in 1981
- 7.7 billion: Number of hours spent on IRS forms, or 80 percent of the total
- $460 billion: Estimated labor cost of the 9.9 billion hours of federal paperwork
Read more Data Points
Sources: New York Times, Congressional Research Service
Reader Comments
Become a CPA
In Scotland people used to be taxed on the number of windows in their houses. Therefore, they cemented them up.
This is all about growing government and our dependence on government for EVERYTHING.
We need to rebel and throw out the politicians who tax us.
Imagine How This Number Will Grow
Imagine if the US Government takes over 15% of the US Economy, how much this paperwork requirement would grow. It takes 137 pages to apply for Cars for Clunkers!
The New Tyrant
Shouldn't that be unconstitutional?
King George himself would be envious having all those latter-day colonists jumping through hoops to tax themselves.
As Ronald Reagan said, "the government is not the answer, the government is the problem."
advertisement
