Final Tally: More Than 60 Percent of Federal Lobbyists Worked on Tax Issues in 2017
Jan. 30, 2018
Final Tally: More Than 60 Percent of Federal Lobbyists Worked on Tax Issues in 2017
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Blue Cross and Verizon Dispatched More Than 100 Lobbyists Each to Help Shape Tax Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 7,000 lobbyists worked on tax issues in 2017, Public Citizen revealed today in a revised report. That equals more than 60 percent of all registered federal lobbyists in 2017.
The new report, “Swamped,” includes fourth-quarter lobbying disclosure data. An earlier version, published in December, concluded that more than 6,200 lobbyists – more than half of registered federal lobbyists – had worked on tax issues through the first three quarters of 2017.
President Donald Trump likely will boast tonight in his State of the Union address about the tax overhaul that he and the Republicans pushed through Congress in December.
“It turns out that Trump’s tax cut made K Street great again,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “The economists tell us that the tax cut’s massive transfer of wealth to the superrich won’t create jobs – but it did put the lobbyists to work for 2017.”
Added Taylor Lincoln, research director for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division and the report’s author, “So much for ‘drain the swamp.’ The tax bill is directly reflective of the lobbying behind it.”
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