The textbook view of the real property tax is that the tax rate is simply a residual, determined by dividing the revenue to be raised from the property tax by the taxable base of assessed values. As such, tax rate adjustment is automatic and changes in assessed values are neutral with respect to...

In hedonic analysis, a common approach for eliciting information regarding the welfare significance of some landmark or (dis)amenity is to control for its distance from each observation. Unfortunately, the effects of distances to amenities on housing prices are generally not consistent...

Though a few states have permitted school districts to adopt an income tax, most have statutory requirements for the use of funds or otherwise limit the eligibility of the school districts to a subset of circumstances. Ohio, by contrast, has permitted schools to adopt a residency based income...

Tax amnesty programs have exploded in popularity among cash-strapped states since the beginning of the Great Recession. Though many scholars have been interested in the long-term tax compliance effects after amnesty programs, this paper is the first to consider short-run compliance effects just...

Elinor and Vincent Ostrom have dedicated their professional careers to understanding polycentric forms of public administration. From a public finance perspective, the Ostrom-polycentric system represents a number of challenges. America's answer to the public financing of polycentric public...

Elinor and Vincent Ostrom have dedicated their professional careers to understanding polycentric forms of public administration. From a public finance perspective, the Ostrom-polycentric system represents a number of challenges. America's answer to the public financing of polycentric public...

State revenue forecasts are a subject of seemingly constant critique from politicians, the media, and the academy over the nature of their outcomes as measured by the ability to accurately predict available resources. The opportunity to introduce political biases into the revenue baseline,...

This paper employs Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports of the 35 largest population American cities from 2005 to 2011 to examine how these cities managed the Great Recession, which was a global macroeconomic shock particularly damaging to the housing sector. While broader surveys of local...

Networks of overlapping local governments are the front line of governmental responses to pandemics. Local governments, both general purpose (municipalities, counties, etc.) and special districts (school, fire, police, hospital, etc.), implement state and federal directives while acting as a...

In 2012, Kansas undertook a large-scale tax reform that excluded certain forms of business income from individual taxation. In theory, these changes enhance the incentives to undertake more real economic activity such as new business formation or increases in employment or investment. But, the...