On April 24, 2018, the US Department of the Treasury (Treasury) released a report (Report) outlining the efforts undertaken to-date by Treasury to implement the president’s regulatory reform agenda. The efforts have been in furtherance of President Trump’s Executive Order 13771 and Executive Order 13789 calling for a reduction in regulatory burdens and costs.
The Report highlights Treasury’s extensive efforts to support President Trump’s regulatory reform agenda. In particular, the Report provides that Treasury has:
- Reduced its regulatory agenda by approximately 100 regulations from its Fall 2017 agenda
- Issued a notice to eliminate almost 300 “deadwood” tax regulations that are duplicative or obsolete
- Withdrawn two regulations deemed “significant” in an October 2017 report (see prior discussion here)
- Issued a series of reporting providing specific recommendations to make the US financial regulatory system more efficient
The Report also provides that, since the issuance of Executive Order 13771 (outlining the Trump administration’s “one-in-two-out” principle), Treasury has focused on burden-reducing measures and that no new “regulatory” actions have been undertaken. Rather, actions from Treasury’s fall 2017 agenda have either been identified as “deregulatory” or have not yet been classified.
The Report also notes that Treasury has also undertaken a retrospective review of significant recent tax regulations pursuant to Executive Order 13789 and identified eight regulations for rescission or modification (largely consistent with the October 2017 report).
Treasury has indicated that these actions will “advance the President’s policy of regulatory efficiency in support of lower individual and corporate compliance burdens.”
Practice Point: Taxpayers should continue to monitor Treasury’s action with respect to regulatory reform, especially in light of the regulatory process in connection with US tax reform.