Government on Government Lobbying Cost MN Taxpayers Millions in 2016

The American Experiment reports:

Taxpayers get it coming and going in a new report issued by the Office of the State Auditor. The figures show $9.1 million in property taxes was spent by local governments in 2016 to lobby the Minnesota Legislature, often to increase spending.

Some 105 Minnesota cities, counties, school districts, townships and special districts spent public funds on lobbying legislators, four more than in 2015. It added up to an increase of $183,353 (2 percent) in local government lobbying over the previous legislative session.

But in reality the total tops $10 million. That’s if you count–the report does not–local government spending on federal lobbyists in Washington, D.C. A loophole in state law does not require the state to track the hundreds of thousands of dollars local governments pay to federal lobbyists.

The self-interest of government.