By Tony Silva
Remember “Deep Throat”? His advice to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward was to “Follow the money”. Following the money brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency. It could also be an effective weapon in the hands of the growing anti-tax movement. Democrats enjoyed more than 70% of PAC money from tax giant H&R Block in the 2007-2008 cycle, according to the Leadership Institute.
Tea Party activists instinctively know that Democrats tend to favor higher taxes and more complicated taxing strategies, but few people seem to connect the dots. BlockPAC’s donations are obscenely high. While “Q” has no interest in stifling political speech, a responsible electorate should be informed about who is taking money from whom.
Intuit, the other leading tax preparation company is a little more bipartisan in its dispensing of PAC money, favoring Republicans 54% to 41% and incumbents 100%. While Block may have a vested interest in keeping taxes complicated, Intuit has other concerns that may influence who they want to influence: geography. Intuit is in the heart of Silicon Valley where California’s suffocating anti-business environment may have as much to do with Republican support as their reliance on a convoluted tax code seems to be a strong motive to support Democrats. These trends continued into the 2010 election cycle. The biggest feeder at the tax-prep PAC trough is Max Baucus, the democrat Senator from Montana. Baucus raked in a whopping $13,000 in four donations from BlockPAC in the 2008 cycle, earning him his own “Q” moniker — “Tax Bogus”. With so much feed money coming in from the Big Tax lobby, is it any wonder innovative ideas like the Fair Tax do not get a fair hearing in the Democrat controlled Senate?
