Well, it's not hard to spend more on lobbying than you pay in federal income taxes when you pay no federal income taxes or pay an effective negative rate. But it's still worth taking a look at the contrast, as Public Campaign has done with a look at 30 profitable corporations that spent more on lobbying than federal income taxes—over three years, they spent $476 million, or $400,000 a day, weekends included, on lobbying. (And you know Congress wasn't legislating most of those days, though they may have been meeting with lobbyists on days they weren't actually working for us.)
Looking at lobbying and related expenses offers an interesting map of corporate priorities. Thirty corporations, three years, $164 billion in combined profits, nearly $11 billion in tax rebates. So what do they do with that? Top executives get $706 million in compensation in 2010 alone. Not only does $476 billion go to lobbying, but they spend $22 million on federal elections. The lowest amount any of these 30 companies spent on lobbying was $710,000, while General Electric clocked in at $84 million. At least seven of these companies laid off a combined 54,000 workers since 2008; others may have eliminated still more jobs under the radar.
And thanks in large part to the aforementioned $476 million spent on lobbying, these corporations can look forward to more tax breaks, their executives to higher pay and lower accountability—and their workers to layoffs and pay and benefits cuts.