More transparency in state always better

Have you ever wondered how much the Department of Labor and Industries spends on travel? Or how much the Liquor Board spends on salaries and wages?

Thanks to the actions of state officials last year, the answers to such questions are simply a mouse click away. By visiting fiscal.wa.gov, the state’s new budget transparency Web site, within minutes I had the answers to both questions. For example, through March L&I had spent more than $9 million on travel and the Liquor Board paid out $80 million in salaries and wages during the 2007-09 biennium.

Unanimously adopted by legislators and signed into law last year, the bill authorizing fiscal.wa.gov tasked the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee with its creation and operation.

Providing taxpayers with this accountability tool was a top priority of Washington Policy Center and other government transparency advocates. In December, LEAP launched the Web site ahead of schedule with the assistance of the Office of Financial Management at a cost of $300,000.

This transparency resource is starting to catch on. According to LEAP, as of May 31, fiscal.wa.gov “hosted more than 35,000 visits, provided nearly 119,000 page views, and approximately 95,000 reports had been run.” Not bad numbers for the first six months of the site’s existence.

Not surprisingly the greatest monthly traffic occurred during the heat of the budget debate in March. Although OFM warned LEAP that it should be prepared to staff a help desk in response to user questions, this has not happened. LEAP reports “that despite this level of activity, staff support answering questions – telephone calls and e-mails – has been almost nil.”

For advocates of government transparency reforms, this result comes as no surprise. When you provide citizens with the ability to directly access the information they desire, staff time can be freed up for other activities.

Among the information originally required to be included on the Web site are details on:

 • State expenditures by fund or account.

 • Expenditures by agency, program and subprogram.

 • State revenues by source.

 • State expenditures by budget object and subobject.

 • State agency workloads, caseloads and performance measurements.

More recently, enhancements to the site have included:

 • Expanded search capability, including policy item-specific keyword searching.

 • Providing a single entry point on the “Budgets” page to access the relevant versions of all three budgets (omnibus, transportation and capital).

 • Inclusion of a “What’s New” page and a glossary, both of which will be constantly revised and updated.

 • Geographic Information System mapping for transportation and capital projects.

 • Access to budget-balancing educational tools.

 • Inclusion of K-12 public school district reporting.

With fiscal.wa.gov admirably highlighting state spending, the next step is to focus on tax transparency.

Increasing the ease of public access to state and local tax rates will help contribute to governmental accountability, public participation, and the understanding of the cost of government services.

Improved tax transparency from state and local governments would also facilitate meaningful tax competition among taxing districts as taxpayers could compare potential tax liabilities based on where they decide to live or locate their businesses.

Three Democratic state senators (including Jim Kastama, Puyallup) introduced a bill this year to create a searchable tax transparency Web site, but it did not get a hearing. Based on the success of the budget transparency Web site to date, lawmakers should dust off this proposal next year to help remove the mystery surrounding taxation.

In the meantime, surf on over to fiscal.wa.gov next time you are on the Web to learn more about how the state is spending your tax dollars.

Jason Mercier is the director of the Center for Government Reform at the Washington Policy Center. He serves on the executive committee of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force and is treasurer of the Washington Coalition for Open Government board.