State tax amnesties have become a commonplace component of state tax administration over the last 30 years. This paper reviews the structural evolution of all state amnesty programs and makes the case that their fundamental purpose has shifted from improving tax administration to emphasizing...

The property tax rate, according to the residual view, is simply the ratio of levies over total assessed values, so that growth in property values is irrelevant to the revenue raised. Critics of this view claim instead that fiscal illusion allows policymakers to take advantage of increased...

Even though lottery sales grow during periods of high unemployment, sales are lower in states where programs have been in force longer.

The remote vendor problem challenges the sales tax as a revenue producer; even more critical, though, is damage to economic balance, efficiency, and fairness. Congressional relief from the physical presence rule--rendered obsolete by uncertainty about what presence means and by "click and brick"...

Principles of sales taxation hold that production input purchases should be exempt for efficiency and burden transparency. State legislative politics collides with principles. Rather than providing general exemption, states encourage economic development through special preferences for...

Debates whether property tax reform can be improved if assessors are appointed rather than elected. Uses data from Virginia where both elected and appointed assessors exist, to explore the effect of assessor selection process on assessor performance.

Argues that the credit-invoice VAT is preferable to a state and local-type retail sales tax as a choice for a national indirect consumption tax. The retail tax is poorly designed, taxes too few services, exempts too many purchases of goods, and taxes too many business inputs, especially capitol...