.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Should citizens be able to find out how the government is spending their tax money? Well, sure. Seems obvious.

But government is large and complicated, even at the state level, and it can be quite difficult for a taxpayer to track down a given budget item.

Several states have taken steps to make it easier, but Iowa isn’t among them. The Public Interest Institute, based in Mount Pleasant, is trying to drum up interest in and support for legislation that would “require transparency in government spending.”

The organization notes that a bipartisan Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush last year. It requires the Office of Management and Budget to create a searchable database on federal spending.

At the state level, Kansas passed a law this year requiring the creation of a Web site detailing state government expenditures. Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas and Hawaii followed with similar legislation.

Warren Jenkins, chief deputy in the Iowa auditor’s office, noted that budget information for our state is available online, but not to the level of each individual line item. Details are available by request unless they’re confidential as defined by the Iowa Code.

“We certainly believe the information should be available to the public, but we want them to understand” what they see, Jenkins said. “The hazard is that people can take individual things out of context, not know all the related parts and draw false conclusions.”

No doubt that would happen, but it’s not a justification for keeping the system obscure.

True, most people would ignore the opportunity or distort what they found. But a few people who take government seriously would research important spending items, take what they learned and try to educate the rest of the voting public.

There must be a legislator or two who can pick up this topic and run with it next winter.