South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford says he has returned almost 30 percent of his annual office budget back to the federal government in the spirit of fiscal conservatism.
The Republican congressman and former governor said his office returned$231,140.30 — 28.8 percent — of the taxpayer dollars budgeted for him to spend on a congressional office and staff in 2013.
“I have long believed that those in government need to spend taxpayer dollars as they would spend their own, both carefully and deliberately,” Sanford said in a statement. “Too often in government there is a distance between what a bureaucrat might spend money on and what a taxpayer would.”
He added: “Our office approaches this fundamental question from the side of the taxpayer and I believe our end-of-year surplus reflects that.”
Because Sanford took office on May 15 after winning a special election, he was given a prorated office allowance of $801,540 for the year.