Lobbying pays off, re-election edition

We've seen that lobbying pays off, big time, in terms of tax breaks achieved per dollar spent. It also pays off for Congress members leaving office, who get big raises going into the business.  Now from a new study we see that it also pays off for congress members seeking re-election:

280 profitable Fortune 500 companies collectively received $223 billion in tax breaks between 2008 and 2010 while contributing $216 million to Congressional candidates over the last four election cycles.  

The thirty most aggressive tax dodging corporations—dubbed the “Dirty Thirty”— collectively paid a negative tax rate between 2008 and 2010 while spending $41 million on Congressional campaign contributions.  

Of the 534 current members of Congress, 524(98 percent) have taken a campaign contribution from one or more of these thirty corporations since the 2006 election cycle.

Everybody's happy!