The last few decades have presented a new set of challenges and
opportunities for public finances.
Demographic trends have put substantial pressure on non-discretionary public
expenditures such as health care, while legal challenges have put pressure on education
financing. The author illustrates how these national trends have also impacted state and
local finances – some directly, others indirectly. The economic downturn further
constrains state and local governments’ options for dealing with national trends.
Constituents’ sentiment toward the size of government further exacerbates fiscal choices
for state and local governments.
In this broad and illuminating volume, experts on public finance discuss innovations in
state and local tax policy implemented or considered over the course of the last three
decades. The authors provide original work that analyzes whether state and local
governments have ‘gone outside the box’ to deal with the strains of current public
finances or have gotten along by adhering to the status quo. Well-known scholars in the
area of state and local public finance consider actual practices and analyze potential
policy changes for the future.
Public policy and public finance scholars and students as well as policy makers will find
much of interest in this impressive and original collection.
Edited by Sally Wallace, Professor of Economics and Associate
Director, Fiscal Research Center, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State
University, US
Contents:
PART I: THE PERFECT STORM?
1. Introduction and Overview
Sally Wallace
2. Major State–Local Policy Challenges: Outside-the-Box Solutions Needed
Ronald C. Fisher
3. Genesis of State–Local Creativity
Robert Tannenwald, Jennifer Weiner and Igor Popov
Discussant Comments: Mary Mathewes Kassis
Discussant Comments: Jason S. Seligman
PART II: HOW STATES COPE WITH ALTERNATIVE STRUCTURES
4. Going Without an Income Tax: How do States do it?
David L. Sjoquist
5. California’s State and Local Revenue Structure After Proposition 13: Is
Denial the Appropriate Way to Cope?
Robert W. Wassmer
Discussant Comments: Don Bruce
PART III: NEW FORMS OF TAXATION
6. An Exploration of Various Corporate Tax Structures in Georgia: Some Effects of
Moving from Three-Factor Apportionment of Corporate Income to a Gross Receipts Tax
Jonathan Rork and Laura Wheeler
7. Can Georgia Move from Income Tax to Consumption Tax?
Sally Wallace
Discussant Comments: William J. Smith
PART IV: EVALUATING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCES AND BUDGETING
8. Reaching and Maintaining Structural Balance: Leaders in the States
Katherine Willoughby
9. Fiscal Limitations on Local Choice: The Imposition and Effects of Local
Government Tax and Expenditure Limitations
Daniel R. Mullins
Discussant Comments: Kurt Thurmaier
Out-of-the-Box Conference: An Epilogue
Bert Waisanen
Index
288 pages, Hardcover
