This November, California voters must decide two policy questions of great concern to public-sector unions. One is a tax hike to stave off further cuts to state spending (there are two versions on the ballot with a chance of passing). The other is a "paycheck protection" measure that would ban the practice of unions' deducting money from…

During the past several years, school district personnel have faced an arduous task of convincing a local electorate--including those who are not directly associated with local schools--to increase its own tax rate. Convincing demographic groups that have a vital interest in improving school facilities can be an easier task. Parents who want to…

A shortcoming of the conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) approaches for estimating median voter models of education demand is the inability to more fully explain the spatial relationships between neighboring school districts. Consequently, two school districts that appear to be descriptively similar in terms of conventional measures of…

As noted in "School Referenda in Indiana", the contributing factors to school referenda outcomes are often subject to the individual communities; while a referendum with a high requested tax rate increase might fail in one community, the same referendum might pass in another. Despite this factor, there often are notable trends and…

Debt limits, interest coverage ratios, one-off balanced budget requirements, pay-as-you-go rules, and tax and expenditure limits are among the most important fiscal rules for constraining intertemporal transfers. There is considerable evidence that the least costly and most effective of such rules are those that focus directly on the rate of…

This paper examines recent efforts in Arkansas to nullify property taxes. It describes how anti-tax citizens, whose push for a constitutional amendment in 1998 was thwarted by the state supreme court, have vowed to collect enough signatures to place the amendment on the 2000 ballot. The proposed amendment will abolish ad valorem taxes upon real…

This report contains the results of an extensive study into State and local tax revenue potentials for the 15 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) States. It identifies both the degree of current use and the potential for increased use of (1) general and selective sales and gross receipts taxes, (2) death and gift taxes, (3) property taxes,…

First of a series; provides an examination of public education's current financial plight and offers seven immediate reforms. (Author)

The annual survey by the Southern Regional Education Board compiled data for all 50 states on their utilization of taxable resources in fiscal 1979. It analyzed state and local governments' relative ability to collect taxes, their efforts to realize this taxing ability, and the recent tax trends. (Author/RW)

This report contains the results of an extensive study into State and local tax revenue potentials for the 15 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) States. It identifies, on a State-by-State basis, both the degree of current use and the potential for increased use of (1) general and selective sales and gross receipts taxes, (2) death and gift…

This report contains results of an extensive study into State and local tax revenue potentials for the 15 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) States and presents quantitative data on the 50 State-local tax systems. Data set forth in the 35 statistical tables enable the researcher to compare his State's total tax revenues with those of each of…

There exists a clearly and amply documented need for an alternative to the property tax as a means of supporting public education, and many fiscal experts have expressed themselves in favor of the municipal income tax as a recourse. This analysis attempts to demonstrate that since additional revenues are needed for local governments and an…

Analysis of figures nationwide indicates that local school districts have reduced their reliance on property taxes while states have increased support for schools. However, states face serious fiscal problems, and the property tax system should be reviewed in light of the need for more local support for schools. (MJL)

Asserts that high wealth districts pay less and receive more while citizens of low wealth districts are strapped with a high tax rate that yields a low return of education, and that it is not the case that low wealth districts are mainly high income, white suburbs. (Author/IRT)

This paper uses survey data collected during the 2 weeks following the November 4, 1980, election to answer questions concerning how local public education should be funded in the wake of the passing of Proposition 2 1/2, a measure that requires high tax rate cities and towns to reduce property tax levies by at least 15 percent per year until they…