Can America Afford Corporate Lobbyists?

It's not as though the companies in question were losing money. For example, Verizon reportedly profited by $32.5 million over the same three-year period, while General Electric generated profits in excess of $10 million and Wells Fargo brought in a cool $49.3 million. Overall, the 30 companies reportedly generated over $163.6 million over the three years, while receiving approximately $10.6 million in tax rebates.

It may be that Congress thought giving tax cuts to these companies would generate jobs. If so, Congress may have been mistaken. According to the non-profit Institute for Policy Studies, at least seven of the companies studied actually laid off workers during the three-year period. Verizon reportedly laid off over 21,000 workers, while Boeing laid off almost 15,000. In total, Public Campaign reported that over 53,000 workers were laid off by the seven studied companies for which it could find data. It's difficult to know how many more were let go but not publicly reported.

So what does this mean for the nation? When facing an estimated deficit of more than $15 trillion, the mere millions in tax breaks described above may not seem like much. However, one can't simply presume that the only corporations that have benefitted from expensively-lobbied tax breaks are the 30 companies in the Public Campaign report. Congress is notoriously loath to name individual corporations in legislation, and rightly so. That means that any tax break given to a major corporation at the urging of pricey lobbyists benefits any other corporation that qualifies for it.

Although it's difficult to estimate how many millions in tax breaks corporations may currently enjoy, it's probably safe to assume from the Public Campaign report that the number is very, very big. Corporations provide jobs, essential goods and services and, of course, investor income. It's all good and important, but they use publicly funded facilities like roads, satellite access and airports just like private citizens do. They shouldn't get a free ride on their federal taxes, especially at a time when the federal government is drowning in debt and the consumers they serve are struggling mightily just to get by.

Presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle work hard to manage appearances and to present their ideas in slick, non-specific sound bites. In the Internet era, however, they can't avoid having their answers to voters' questions recorded on cell phones and broadcast around the world. It's time voters started asking candidates how to reform the tax code so that corporations pay their fair share. We'll see what the candidates have to say on YouTube.

This commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet guest contributor program. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of TheStreet or its management.

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