Creates MAP – Missouri Accountability Portal allowing taxpayers to track government expenditures
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Taxpayers in Missouri can now get a better idea how their government spends their tax dollars. On Wednesday, July 11, Governor Matt Blunt (R) of Missouri signed an executive order launching the Missouri Accountability Portal (MAP).
MAP is a free database that can be accessed at: http://mapyourtaxes.mo.gov/, and allows taxpayers to search expenditures both by broad categories and by specific businesses and individuals. Governor Blunt is one of the first governors to make such comprehensive spending information available on a single, user-friendly website.
“Governor Blunt is one of the first governors to enable taxpayers to become fiscal watchdogs, and I commend him for taking this step towards greater fiscal transparency,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “Governor Blunt understands that since taxpayers are picking up the tab for government expenditures, they deserve to be able to scrutinize these expenditures.”
Previously, Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana had issued an executive order in 2005 making available state contract information. This year, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas unilaterally posted his office\’s expenditures on his website, with the State Comptroller Susan Combs following and posting not only her office\’s expenditures, but also the expenditures for numerous state agencies on her website. But MAP appears to be the first comprehensive stand-alone web portal for state expenditures created by executive order. Taxpayers in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Hawaii will soon be able to track their state government’s expenditures on similar website thanks to legislation passed this year.
“I would strongly encourage other governors and state legislators to take this page from Governor Blunt’s playbook,” continued Norquist. “More public scrutiny will help eliminate impropriety in dealing with taxpayer dollars – be it perceived or real impropriety, and any politician should aspire to be seen as a leader on this issue.”