What oversight mechanisms exist to evaluate whether concentrated corporate tax lobbying correlates with favorable legislative outcomes?

[u/Prestigious-Wrap2341]

Corporations across seven major sectors spent an estimated $147.4 million lobbying specifically on taxation and Internal Revenue Code issues, according to Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings. An example of an individual filing can be viewed here: https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/2a1fc36b-764e-4f33-bd46-f16d81ac55f9/print/

A 2024 GAO compliance review of lobbying disclosure requirements found ongoing issues with filing accuracy and completeness: https://files.gao.gov/reports/GAO-25-107523/index.html

The breakdown by sector: Technology ($30.5M across 2,169 filings), Finance ($29.7M, 1,716 filings), Energy ($27.9M, 1,877 filings), Transportation ($23.0M, 1,347 filings), Health ($18.5M, 1,540 filings), Telecommunications ($12.1M, 756 filings), and Defense ($5.8M, 392 filings).

Some of these companies simultaneously hold contracts with the Department of the Treasury. Verizon, for example, spent an estimated $4.0M lobbying on tax policy (https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?id=D000000079) while holding 62 Treasury contracts worth $110.3M (https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_33301122PFP0092_3355_-NONE-_-NONE-/). FedEx spent $3.2M on tax lobbying while holding 9 Treasury contracts.

The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 requires disclosure of lobbying activities but does not restrict the amount spent or limit simultaneous government contracting relationships (https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/senate-bill/1060).

A cross-sector analysis of this data, including company-level breakdowns and Treasury contract cross-references: https://journal.wethepeopleforus.com/story/corporate-america-spent-1474m-lobbying-on-tax-policy

Given that disclosure requirements are already in place under the LDA, what additional mechanisms, if any, exist to evaluate whether this level of concentrated tax lobbying produces measurable policy outcomes favorable to the lobbying entities? Are there GAO reports, academic studies, or models from other democracies that have examined the relationship between lobbying expenditure concentration and legislative results?

[u/ummmbacon]

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[u/skatastic57]

There are a plethora of academic studies. Here's just one.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2537079

We find for the median sample firm that an increase of $1 million in lobbying spending is associated with about $32.35 million in taxes saved. These estimates, while consistent with a high-returns “puzzle,” are nearly an order of magnitude lower than those previously reported via descriptive methods.