Hidden Tax Reduction Act

Hidden Tax Reduction Act - Title I: Elimination of Unnecessary Reports to Congress - Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 to require the Comptroller General to submit to each Congress within four months of its start a list of such recurring reporting requirements imposed by law or administrative requirements which are transmitted to either or both Houses of Congress which have been determined to be no longer useful, together with recommendation for elimination, or modification thereof. Requires the Comptroller General to identify any reports from the public which could be discontinued if the report to the Congress is eliminated or modified.

Title II: Paperwork Assessments of Legislation - Directs that each public bill or joint resolution reported by any committee of the House or Senate shall contain: (1) a determination of the amount of additional paperwork that will result from the regulations to be promulgated pursuant to the bill or joint resolution; or (2) in lieu of such evaluation, a statement of the reasons why compliance by the committee with the requirements in paragraph (1) is impracticable.

Requires departments and agencies, in commenting on bills relating to their respective areas of responsibility, to include in their comments the determinations required by this Act.

Title III: Central Management and Control Responsibility - Directs the Office of Management and Budget to have Government-wide responsibility for setting policies and coordinating procedures governing the budgeting, management, and control of Federal information management activities and of costs imposed by Federal programs on individuals, organizations, and other institutions.

Directs the Office to annually review the paperwork reduction activities of each Federal agency to ascertain their adequacy.

Directs the Office to publish such regulations and guidance relating to program organization, operations, and information activities as it deems necessary to simplify Federal programs, to make such programs more responsive and understandable, and to eliminate unnecessary costs and burdens on others resulting from Federal programs. Directs such Office to exercise Government-wide controls over Federal information requests under such regulations as it may establish.

Requires the Office of the Federal Register, General Services Administration, to set minimum readability standards and issue such guidelines on the development of readable regulations as it deems appropriate to assure that Federal regulations are understandable to those who must comply.

Establishes within the Office of Management and Budget an Office of Privacy and Confidentiality Review. States that such Office shall be responsible for developing and recommending to the President and the Congress policies and standards on information disclosure, confidentiality, and safeguarding the security of information collected or maintained by Federal agencies or in conjunction with Federal programs.

Directs each Federal agency to establish a regulatory review program to provide planning and oversight of the regulatory activities of the agency in the interest of developing simpler, less costly, and more understandable regulations.

Amends the Records Management Act of 1950 to authorize and direct the National Archives and Records Service to conduct studies and promulgate standards, procedures, and guidelines with respect to records retention requirements imposed on the public by Federal agencies.

Title IV: Regulatory Flexibility - Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to establish guidelines and regulations to provide for: (1) less costly reporting and recordkeeping requirements on persons and organizations with a record of regulatory compliance or achievement of program objectives; and (2) less costly regulatory requirements for small business, small local governments, other small organizations, individuals, and small transactions where such requirements would allow the accomplishing of Federal objectives without unnecessarily burdening such organizations, persons, or transactions.

Title V: Elimination of Unnecessary Duplication - Establishes a Federal Information Locator System composed of an information locator, a data element dictionary, and an information referral service.

Directs the System to serve as the authoritative register of all public use reports. Establishes within the General Services Administration a Federal Information Locator Office.

Requires the Director of such Locator Office to: (1) prepare a data profile for each public use report; and (2) register all approved new reports and other information holdings in the Federal Information Locator System.

Requires data profiles for planned new requirements to be matched against existing profiles in the information locator. Directs the results of such matching to be made available to Federal agencies and the general public.

Requires the Director to establish procedures and to insure that at a minimum all data items in public-use reports are registered in the Federal Locator System.

Requires the Director to insure that no actual data is contained within the locator system, except descriptive data profiles necessary to identify duplicative data or to locate information. Requires that any information holding which contains a data element of a personal or proprietary nature within the meaning of the Privacy Act of 1974 be identified as such and restricted in access and use.

Title VI: Improving Federal, State, Local Government Regulations - State and Local Government Paperwork Relief Act - Requires the President to appoint an officer to be responsible for advising the President on matters affecting Federal, State, and local relations and overseeing the resolution of such issues.

Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to: (1) monitor proposed legislation and regulations to determine how Federal, State, and local operations may be coordinated and simplified; (2) propose administrative reform plans; (3) establish cognizant or head agencies in program areas to reduce administrative overlap and confusion; and (4) establish administrative guidelines and regulations which Federal agencies follow, and void agency requirements not in accord with such regulations.

Authorizes and directs the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to prepare a report with recommendations for criteria to establish the degree of Federal involvement and imposed cost appropriate in State and local assistance.

Title VII: Administrative Reform - Authorizes the President, upon the request of an agency head, to issue an Executive order delaying for a period not to exceed one year the effective date required by law for the promulgation of rules or regulations or nonsubstantive administrative provisions of law. Requires such order to include a finding that the effective date or administrative provisions by law are impracticable.

Title VIII: Improving the Rulemaking Process - Declares it to be the policy of Congress that existing and future regulations of departments and agencies shall be as simple and clear as possible. Directs the Office of Management and Budget to insure that departments and agencies adopt procedures to achieve such goals.

Requires that upon publication in the Federal Register of proposed rulemaking such notification shall include an estimate of the projected paperwork burden on all affected parties involved in complying with the rule.

Title IX: Improving Government Responsiveness to Citizens - Authorizes and directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to establish a program and set agency responsibilities to provide the public with information about Federal programs and procedures, to set standards for the handling by Federal agencies of public complaints and suggestions, to coordinate the handling of complaints or suggestions involving more than one agency, and to monitor executive branch responsiveness.

Title X: Federal Information Centers - Federal Information Centers Act - Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to require the Administrator of General Services Administration to establish a nationwide network of Federal Information Centers to provide the public with information about the programs and procedures of the Federal Government.

Title XI: Miscellaneous Provisions - States that if any provision of this Act is held invalid, the remainder of the Act shall not be affected thereby.