Mobilizing Resources for Public Services: Financing Urban Governments

Abstract

This article examines potential sources of revenue needed to finance urban services. In formulations for resolving the US urban crisis, answers are unclear and several policy guidelines are suggested. First, political candidates must assess reasonably the cost of public services and avoid blanket assurances of no new or increased taxes. Second, urban local governments must have access to the fiscal resources of the full urban area for which they have been assigned responsibility for providing public services. Third, urban governments must coordinate and cooperate: Fiscal mercantilism is not productive public policy. Fourth, urban local governments must give greater priority to infrastructure maintenance and development in their financial plans. Fifth, urban local governments must improve property tax structure and administration with appropriate assistance from state governments. Finally, urban local governments must make better use of charge financing and must expand use of broad‐based sales and income taxes in cooperation with their states. The authors conclude that urban local governments need to look for resources themselves; prospects for major intergovernment assistance, especially federal, are dim.

Time to Adoption of Local Option Sales Taxes

“…Thus, early (or previous) adoption “can reinforce the expansion of a policy in the future” (Burge and Rogers 2016, 316). This legal setting permits this analysis to test two competing hypotheses: these jurisdictions already have a higher tax burden and would therefore be less inclined to adopt an additional LOST; and voters are more likely to support an additional tax if revenue is earmarked for a service they support (Buchanan 1963; Bowman, MacManus, and Mikesell 1992; Crowley and Hoffer 2012).…”

Service Delivery Satisfaction and Willingness to Pay Taxes: Citizen Recognition of Local Government Performance

“…There is evidence of incongruence between citizens' appetite for local government services and their willingness to pay for those services (Beck et al, 1987;Bowman, MacManus, & Mikesell, 1992;Citrin, 1979;Lowery, 1985;Sharp, 1990). Incongruence between demand for services and willingness to pay for services, sometimes referred to as tax-demand discontinuity, raises questions about government that behaves similarly to business (Glaser & Hildreth, 1996).…”

Assessing and Measuring the Fiscal Heath of Local Governments

“…This pattern was later repeated in suburbs near the central city as people and enterprises migrated to suburbs farther away. Although fiscal pressures stabilized for most urban governments by the late 1980s (Bowman, MacManus, and Mikesell 1992), the early 1990 recession lengthened the period of fiscal stress for many until the mid-1990s when economic conditions improved dramatically and local tax revenues increased faster than spending. However, conditions have reversed once again for local governments since 2001 with the precipitous decline of the stock market and accompanying recession that have reduced state-shared and nonproperty tax revenues (Pagano and Hoene 2003).…”