The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has released its latest report, Tackling the Time Tax: How the Federal Government is Reducing Burdens to Accessing Critical Benefits and Services. The report notes that “every year more than $140 billion in government benefits that Congress has authorized goes unclaimed.” During a public listening session with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), it was revealed that “administrative burdens” such as the time needed — what is being dubbed as the “Time Tax” — and difficulty of the application process, are hindering access to government support services.

In 2022, as a result of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), OIRA launched an initiative to reduce burdens in accessing public benefits and services across the Federal government. While each agency is attempting to reduce burdens tailored to their specific programs, community, and applicable laws, OIRA has identified some of the following common strategies across various agencies:

1. Automatically make applicants who are eligible for one program also eligible for related programs.

2. Reduce the need for individuals to provide additional paperwork to continue to be eligible to receive services.

3. Simplify forms.

4. Share information across government agencies as appropriate.

5. Partner with community-based organizations to provide assistance to applicants.

6. Provide government services and benefits in more languages.

Read the full Tackling the Time Tax report to review updates to the results of the original initiative, and discover the ongoing efforts of several departments.

For further related reading, take a peek at HSDL’s Collection of General U.S. Policy Documents, or view the In-Focus topic, Federal Workforce Challenges.