By Peggy Venable - Special to the Express-News
Published: 01-02-09
Gov. Rick Perry recently said “no thanks” to a proposed federal bailout of the states while most other governors groveled to Washington. Perry understands that one level of government cannot grow its revenues by begging for help from another level without taxpayers being stuck with the bill. Unfortunately this practice was already rampant before the age of bailouts.
And when it comes to tax dollars being used to lobby for more tax dollars from another level of government local governments and universities are serious offenders in Texas.
It’s called taxpayer-funded lobbying. A new study by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation found that the influence of lobbying by state and local government along with universities generates enormous federal spending. From 1998 to 2007 federal lobbying expenditures by local governments skyrocketed 240.9 percent. They don’t appear to be slowing down.
From 1998 to the first half of 2008 the city of Houston spent over $5 million on federal lobbying and the city of San Antonio spent $2.7 million. Texas Tech University alone spent $4.57 million in the same period. From the $2.1 million in Fort Worth over the 10-year period to $2.08 million in Dallas taxpayer funded lobbying is a growing epidemic.
These are your state and local tax dollars used to lobby for higher federal spending and taxes that you and every other American will have to pay. And this process pits the tax spender against the taxpayer which only leads to a distorted legislative process.
The only argument for hiring lobbyists with tax dollars is that everyone else is doing it.
Nationwide state governments local governments public universities transportation authorities and public water utilities spent an astonishing $138.1 million on federal lobbying in 2007 up 151 percent from $52.9 million in 1998. They spent another $77.8 million on lobbying in the first half of 2008 the most recent data available. Over 1998 through first-half 2008 period taxpayer-funded lobbying totaled $1.09 billion.
If our county or city sat out this bonanza others would simply get our share goes the argument. The trouble is when everyone thinks this way it results in a feeding frenzy that breaks the bank at the federal level. It’s even worse on the state level. We’ve calculated that in 2007 541 local government entities spent $52.6 million on 1618 lobbyists in Austin all of it on the side of higher spending and higher taxes. “Everybody else is doing it” is no excuse—it’s all the more reason to push for meaningful reform.
The Texas Municipal League and the Texas Association of School Boards are the state’s most prominent vehicles for taxpayer-funded lobbying. The groups have historically been funded by local property tax dollars from the city and county taxpayers. They use the funding to hire lobbyists to secure more funding. In 2005 alone the Texas Association of School Boards spent between $350000 and $650000 on eight lobbyists.
Harris County has pulled out of the Texas Association of Counties with commissioners citing opposition to the TAC positions that don’t represent the views of Harris County voters. That’s leadership.
That action also represented an important turning point showing that while we will continue to fight for reforms to curtail the process statewide and nationally individual counties and cities can choose to “just say no” to government organizations’ lobbying.
Across the country taxpayers are footing the bill when local entities hire lobbyists who argue against the interests of most taxpayers. They are using our money to lobby for higher taxes and spending programs — and to oppose taxpayer protections. Higher government revenue provides more funds to pay their lobby fees.
This vicious cycle is expensive for citizens in every taxing entity including cities counties and school districts across the country. In these highly uncertain economic times we need government policies that will limit the burden of government. We do not need a big government consensus that disagrees only on how the pie is sliced by highly-paid taxpayer-funded lobbyists.
An arms race of lobbyists to try to raid ever more tax dollars from the treasuries in Washington and Austin will ultimately stick us all with higher tax bills making government richer and us poorer.
