The Treasury Department this week released a report “detailing its accomplishments in support of the President’s regulatory reform agenda.”

“We will continue to ensure that we identify and reduce outdated regulations. Reducing unnecessary burdens will lead to increased economic growth, greater job creation, and a fundamentally stronger economy for our country,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

As cited in the report, the agency’s “regulatory reform accomplishments” include eliminating, reducing, or proposing to eliminate more than 300 regulations in total, including “unnecessary and outdated” regulations. In February 2018, for example, Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to eliminate as “deadwood” 298 tax regulations “that are duplicative or obsolete and require taxpayers to navigate needlessly complex and confusing rules.”  

The Treasury’s regulatory agenda was reduced by approximately 100 items, year-over-year, from fall 2016 to fall 2017. There were zero new significant regulatory actions under Executive Order 13771, the order that directs federal agencies to repeal two federal regulations for every new rule they issue.

During 2017, Treasury withdrew 62 items from its regulatory agenda and moved 50 rules from its active agenda to long-term status.  Long-term actions are defined as items under development but for which the agency does not expect to have a regulatory action in the 12 months after publication of the agenda.

The full report can be found on the Treasury Department Website.

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