Is Paul Gosar Misusing Tax Dollars for His Travels?
Arizonans, how much do you know about Paul Gosar? Regardless of whether you’re a resident of Arizona or not, if you pay tax dollars you’re going to want to listen in. Paul Gosar is a US House Representative serving his seventh term in Congress from Arizona’s Ninth Congressional District and has previously held office in Arizona’s First and Fourth Districts as well (US Congressman Paul Gosar). In examining House expenditure data, Gosar’s disbursements stuck out compared to other members of the House of Representatives — and not in a good way.
Aside from Personnel Compensation, which includes officers and employee salaries, Gosar spends the most on Travel. Since 2011, he has accumulated nearly $2.1 million spent on Travel, which is nearly twice as much he has spent on Rent Communication Utilities and almost three times as much he has spent on Printing and Reproduction. On average, Gosar spends about $1.4 million on Travel per year.
To be more specific, Gosar’s total Travel spending averages about $178,000 every year. The bulk of his Travel disbursements stem from car rentals, commercial transportation, gas, and lodging in which Gosar spends an average of about $152,000 every year. Considering Gosar has appeared at events across the States, including Colorado, Florida, and Texas, as well as international ones in Europe, his notably high Travel spending annual averages aren’t hard to believe (CNN).
To put Gosar’s Travel spending into context, across all members of the House between 2011 and 2022, the average Travel expense regarding car rentals, commercial transportation, gasoline, and lodging is $438. While Gosar’s average Travel expense regarding the same subcategories is $492, which is only slightly higher, by comparing the two visualizations below, it is clear how much more Gosar spends on car rentals, commercial transportation, gasoline, and lodging than the average House member.
Given such high Travel-related expenses, is Gosar, at the very least, using these trips for a good cause? Well, in 2018, when he spent nearly $80,000 on commercial transportation alone with an overall total of $1.4 million spent on Travel, Gosar was reported dining with Filip DeWinter, a Belgian politician, in London who is known for claiming that Islam does not belong in Europe (CNN). While that is just one instance of a trip that Gosar made, meeting with a publicly anti-Muslim politician does not make him look good.
Moreover, it’s one thing to spend unreasonable amounts of tax dollars on expenses like Travel that can be avoided or cut down, but to actively speak out against the federal government’s “wasteful spending” is unbelievable. On Gosar’s website, he states, “I have been relentless in such pursuits and have sought to restore fiscal responsibility as well as commonsense to a bloated federal government that has lost its way. I will continue to cut wasteful federal spending wherever I can. The American people and taxpayers deserve nothing less” (US Congressman Paul Gosar). Gosar’s claims about inciting change against federal government spending are hard to trust when his spending as Congressman bleeds hypocrisy. And while Gosar denies misusing any tax dollars, Americans may never really know where their tax dollars are going (CNN). Given that within the House expenditure data the extent of the details provided in the data frame beyond “Category” is “Purpose” (which is where the subcategories of Travel were pulled from) means that unpacking how Congressmen spend their budgets leaves a great deal of grey area.
Given Gosar’s Travel-related expenses alone, it’s no wonder why about 82% of Americans do not believe their tax dollars are being spent effectively, and nearly 27% claimed that they had no idea how their tax dollars are being spent (GoBankingRates). While the House expenditure data is available to the public, the lack of details beyond the categories and purpose of house disbursements fuels the lack of trust that Americans feel towards their government. Not to mention, not many Americans know how to even parse through big data frames like the House disbursements to come to conclusions themselves. If Congressmen like Gosar want to be true to their word, especially about “wasteful spending,” the least they can do is be transparent about where large sums of their money are going — especially when it has to do with travel which is a much cost to cut down on than personnel compensation.
