Only 5% of Americans Trust Government Spending Reporting

The exposure of government spending practices is important to more than a few porkbusters or wonks. Americans have extremely low confidence in government care with their purse. Politicians and their parties who ignore this unease do so at their electoral peril and disregard for our financial security and faith in government.

The Association of Government Accountants contracted a Harris survey in January of public attitudes toward government spending. [HT: Stephen Barr @ WaPo]

The project is called Citizen-Centric Government Reporting Initiative.

Governments exist to serve their citizens. Citizens have the right to an understanding of how their government operates and if their tax dollars are being spent efficiently and effectively. And governments have a responsibility to provide that information in an easily understandable way.

This initiative encourages governments to produce and publish an annual ‘state of the government’ report that is no more than four pages long. The reports, designed to be visually appealing, provide understandable information to citizens about the financial condition and performance of the government that answers the question, “Are we better off today than we were last year?”

AGA believes that the report will make governments more accountable to their citizens and will help Americans become more educated citizens, who are better able to participate in government activities. Governments are encouraged to include the report in their local newspaper and post it to their government website, which would provide easy access to the public.

Government financial statements are too large and too complicated for average citizens, meaning those without a college degree in finance, economics or accounting. Therefore, the majority of governments—federal, state and local—are not reaching their citizens with some of the most significant financial and performance information. Even local governments, rich with readily available financial and performance information, may fail to inform citizens if the data is not provided in an interesting and understandable way.

The survey results are reported here. Excerpts:

[A] lack of government accountability and transparency undermines
democracy and gives rise to cynicism and mistrust. This result is reflected in the survey findings, which reveal deep dissatisfaction among the American public with both the availability of government financial information and the way it is delivered to the people. Much of this dissatisfaction has to do with issues of trust and a gap between what the public expects and what is actually delivered.

* The American public is most dissatisfied with government financial management information disseminated by the federal government. Of those surveyed, 72 percent say that it is important to receive this information from the federal government, but only 5 percent are satisfied with what they receive.

American adults believe governments are failing to practice open, honest and responsible spending while doing a poor job of providing understandable and timely financial management information….
American adults believe that being responsible to the public for spending is the most important area regarding financial management.

* Seventy-one percent of respondents who receive financial management information from the government, or believe it is important to receive it, say they would use the information to influence their vote.

Hear that Congressman Bonner.

UPDATE: The February 22 Examiner editorial, “Uncle Sam’s Credibility Gap On Spending,” looks at the implications of this survey for the 2008 presidential race.