While tax reforms proposed by Bradley-Gephart, Kemp-Kasten, and the Reagan Administration differ in specifics, all three would reduce marginal tax rates and broaden the income tax base by eliminating many of the special provisions that have crept into the system over the years--agriculture benefits from a variety of these special provisions. This…

Some local governments in nonmetro areas--especially those in the rural West and in very rural areas--experienced high levels of fiscal stress in the mid-seventies that were associated with high and rising local taxes. These local governments may be forced to cut back their rural development activities in the eighties. Fiscal pressures on local…