Can the federal budget be constrained using congressionally self-imposed rules? The Budgetary Enforcement Act of 1990 (BEA90), in effect from 1992 to 2002, is frequently held up as an example of congressional control that largely succeeded in doing so and its expiration is considered a watershed...

The previous literature on vertical equity in property assessment has focused on parcel-level data within a single area and has produced mixed conclusions on whether the process is progressive or regressive. This paper advances the discussion to identifying what differences between jurisdictions...

The conventional view of fiscal zoning is that communities make land use accommodations only for nuisance entities that generate sufficient net fiscal benefits. State reforms that redistribute property tax revenues have been accused of undermining these decisions ex-post. This paper tests this...

While typically not a formulator of policy, property assessors are likely sensitive to political incentives, since they are either directly elected to their office or appointed by another elected official. This article estimates a model that is motivated by the assumption that assessors seek to...

While typically not a formulator of policy, property assessors are likely sensitive to political incentives as they are either directly elected to their office or appointed by another elected official. This paper estimates a model that is motivated by the assumption that assessors seek to...

Politicians often frame sin taxes as sound sources of revenue that will improve consumer behavior. Economists point out that the first principle of tax policy is the value of consumer choice; consumers' purchasing decisions reflect their choices for pursuing their best interests. Taxes that make...

Sales tax holidays are temporary suspensions of tax rates applicable to selected goods. In the United States, sales tax holidays are popular among states during “back-to-school” seasons for educational supplies and new clothing. One motivation for these policies is to provide state...

This paper seeks to produce evidence on the labor incidence of the taxation of machinery and equipment purchases by manufacturers under the state general sales tax. For the identification strategy, we exploit tax policy discontinuities among adjacent counties along state borders. The main...

Policymakers frequently employ tax holidays to stimulate spending and transfer state revenues to favored groups. Perhaps the most common form of this policy in the United States are “Back to School” tax holidays where states waive the retail sales tax on selected school supplies in the fall....