The Federal Government imposes a huge paperwork burden on business, local
government, and the private sector. Many of these forms are needed for
vital government functions, but others are duplicative, overly complex or
obsolete.
During my Administration we cut the paperwork burden by 15 percent, and we
created procedures to continue this progress. The new Paperwork Reduction
Act centralizes, in OMB, oversight of all agencies' information
requirements and strengthens OMB's authority to eliminate needless forms.
The "paperwork budget" process, which I established by executive order,
applies the discipline of the budget process to the hours of reporting time
imposed on the public, forcing agencies to scrutinize all their forms each
year. With effective implementation, these steps should allow further,
substantial paperwork cuts in the years ahead.