The digital economy is changing faster than the law can respond and has challenged legal systems worldwide. In the tax space, the digital economy has undermined traditional tax systems in ways that have created significant tax compliance and enforcement challenges, substantial tax revenue...

This important book convincingly demonstrates that the property tax revolt that culminated in California's Proposition 13 in 1978 originated to a large extent in a surprising, and heretofore unanalyzed phenomenon: the modernization of the collection of the property tax. The import of Proposition...

There are many paradoxes presented by the relationship of Californians to taxes and spending. Rather than bemoan the seeming disconnects, this short article argues that Californians should be understood as wanting more taxation according to a benefit principle. This approach indicates that...

Governments at all levels – federal, state and local – are suffering through ever more severe budget crises. The interests of these different levels of government are often assumed to be in conflict. For instance, it seems reasonable to believe that if the federal government were to get its...

The state corporate income tax has been and remains a vital source of income for the states. The theoretical justifications for this tax, however, are weak and, as reasonably predicted based on its poor design, the state corporate income tax has been in decline as a source of state revenue for...

In this paper, I argue that we should replace poorly designed fiscal rules constraining cities and other local governments. For example, instead of requiring a local supermajority to issue debt, localities should only be able to issue relatively safe forms of debt. Abolishing the old rule...

In this paper we develop and resolve a tension amidst several widely held – and sensible – general propositions concerning municipal public finance. On the one hand, local governments are supposed to be scrupulous protectors of public dollars. And yet there is also widespread agreement that...