Open the Books was founded in 2011 on a simple principle: Taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going and how it’s being spent. 

Americans are paying “property taxes to fund local education, so wouldn't you like to know where that money is going?” asks Matthew Tyrmand, deputy director at large of the Florida-based nonprofit Open the Books. 

Working at the federal, state, and local level, Open the Books files thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests every year with the aim of obtaining and publishing government spending records. 

For every state in the U.S., Open the Books publishes a “checkbook” detailing how much the state spends annually and on what. 

Tyrmand joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” as part of this week’s money and transparency series. He share the history of Open the Books and takes time to honor the organization’s founder, Adam Andrzejewski, who passed away unexpectedly in August.

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