Most Americans think government is too big. But it still keeps getting bigger.

Why?

Phil Kerpen, with Americans for Prosperity, writes in National Review Online, “One big reason is that taxpayer dollars are being used to lobby directly against taxpayer interests.”

State and local governments, including public universities and other government entities, spent $133 million in tax dollars to lobby the federal government last year. That’s a 148 percent jump from just eight years ago.

Much of this is designed to entice congressmen to put ever more expensive earmarks into federal legislation. Yes, our hard-earned tax dollars get spent to create even more spending of our hard-earned tax dollars.

Hey, they’ve got us coming and going!

Kerpen also points out that these state and local governmental bodies are specifically exempt from the Senate’s $50 limit on gifts and the ban on gifts in the House. Yep, they can also use our tax dollars to buy lavish gifts to butter up our politicians.

And the problem of using tax dollars to lobby for more tax dollars isn’t limited to the federal government. A report on tax-funded lobbying in Texas found spending to be as high as $50 million per year in just that one state.

While tax-spenders throw around millions of our dollars, who fights back, to lobby on behalf of taxpayers?

Well, groups throughout the country do lobby for taxpayers, usually on shoe-string budgets. To find out how you can help improve the odds in your state, log on to SamAdamsAlliance.org.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.