No Taxation Without Information

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Amy Oliver is a blogger after my own heart. In a post entitled “No taxation without information!” she reports that she is adopting the motto of a new campaign sponsored by the Sunshine Review.

The campaign promotes what Amy ironically calls a “crazy idea”: that taxpayers should know how government is spending their money.

To this end, the Sunshine Review, sponsored by the Sam Adams Alliance, is launching a collaborative “My Government” website. It aims to host Web pages on every city, county, school district, and state agency in all 50 states. Providing key information that governments should be making available already, but aren’t. (Speaking of full disclosure, I should probably admit that I’m a senior advisor with Sam Adams Alliance.)

Amy’s new mission is to persuade her town, Greeley, Colorado, her local school district, her county, and the state of Colorado to post their check registries on the Web in a searchable database. She wants to know where the money is going in precise detail — “not just from some annual report that breaks down a budget by category.” The check registries are already a matter of public record, but it can be cumbersome to gain access to them.

Amy thinks taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. Also, of course, easy access to this information would allow citizens to take action if they spy expenditures that seem dubious or even downright dirty.

Good luck, Amy.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.