A recent policy change caps the annual percentage increase in the assessed value of owner–occupied homes in Cook County, Illinois. Assuming that total revenue would remain constant, the result is relief for some financed by higher taxes on others. We estimate these tax burden shifts using data...

In 1991, a property tax limitation measure was imposed in five Illinois counties. Dye and McGuire (1997) studied its short–term impact. With the limit now in effect for over a decade and extended to many more counties, we assess its long–term impact. Because jurisdictions brought under the...

Provides some preliminary systematic evidence on state spending and presents an abundance of descriptive statistics on spending and on the demographic and economic characteristics of the states.

How are major state revenue sources affected by the business cycle? Could changing the mix of taxes mitigate the severity of cyclical budget problems? This paper examines issues in estimating and interpreting the short–run elasticity of taxes with respect to personal income. Recent literature...

Uses national aggregate time series data to estimate the trend rate of growth and the deviation from trend for several components of state general sales and individual income tax bases. The results indicate great variety in growth and variability characteristics across tax base components.

Since the 1950s, the sales tax has become much more widely used as a source of state government revenue and the average sales tax rate has greatly increased. During this period, the service sector has grown rapidly relative to other sectors of the economy. We hypothesize that increased sales...

When property tax assessment ratios vary, the costs of public services are unevenly redistributed. More sales in a census tract should help to improve assessment uniformity while providing homeowners with a stronger basis for appeals. Using data from Chicago to estimate a multinomial logit model...