FINANCIAL INDICATORS AND TRENDS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: A STATE-BASED POLICY PERSPECTIVE

Recent federal reports, the projected "new" federalism, research in financial and economic trends, and the emerging consensus concerning local government distress have highlighted the fact that no comprehensive or systematic federal, state, or local policies exist to deal with the problems that have been identified. The purpose of this article is to perform a statebased study of financial patterns and trends in local governments that have implications for state policy. Included in the analysis were correlations between constant dollar financial indicators and an instability index for four data points. The results of the analysis and trends suggest that certain consistent patterns which have implications for state policy exist. Copyright 1983 by The Policy Studies Organization.

The Effects of Business Taxes on Output and Location of the Firm under Uncertainty

[[abstract]]In this article, a triangular production-location model is used to show that when output price is random, the imposition of business taxes (including lump-sum tax, profit tax, output tax, and input tax) can have significant effects on the optimal location and output of a firm attempting to maximize a von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function of profits. In addition, using the concept of differential incidence, the authors also made a comparison of the magnitudes of the impacts of these taxes on the output and location of the firm and indicates that the effects of these taxes differ according to the tax structure.[[journaltype]]國

The Equity Impacts of Municipal Tax Incentives: Leveling or Tilting the Playing Field?

The widespread use over the past two decades of Michigan's PA 198 Industrial Tax Abatement program provides an opportunity to assess the inter-urban equity impacts of this economic development tool. Not only has PA 198 been used relatively more often by suburban municipalities, local governments at the metropolitan periphery are more likely to use abatements to attract new plants and new jobs. The older central cities primarily use the program to retain existing jobs, albeit at high cost of lost tax revenues. On balance, it appears that PA 198 has done little to alter the location decisions of participating firms. Copyright 2006 by The Policy Studies Organization.