In the News
Investments Can Yield More on K Street, Study Indicates
Publication date: April 12, 2009
Source: The Washington Post
Author: Dan Eggen
The Washington Post quoted Stephen Mazza, professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs, in a story about a study that Mazza conducted with two other University of Kansas professors. The study showed that a temporary tax break helped multinational corporations receive a 22,000 percent return on their lobbying expenditures.
The Post wrote:
The researchers calculated an average rate of return of 22,000 percent for those companies that helped lobby for the tax break. Eli Lilly, for example, reported in disclosure documents that it spent $8.5 million in 2003 and 2004 to lobby for the provision -- and eventually gained tax savings of more than $2 billion.
"There's always been speculation that lobbying is a lucrative area," said Stephen W. Mazza, a Kansas tax-law professor who is one of the authors of the study. "We've been able to come up with quantifiable returns and show that it really is the case."
Mazza added that the results are "troubling" because they show how large companies can distort tax policy to benefit their bottom line.
