Advanced Search
Print - Close Window
www.greenwood.com/catalog/GM0423.aspx
All Greenwood Products
Growth and Variability in State Tax Revenue An Anatomy of State Fiscal Crises
(Click to Enlarge)
This book is not currently available for purchase Online. Please call 1-800-225-5800 to backorder.
Book Code: GM0423
ISBN: 0-313-30423-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-30423-1
224 pages, figures, tables
Greenwood Press
Publication: 10/30/1997
List Price: $115.00 (UK Sterling Price: £65.00)
Availability: Out of stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Series Title: Contributions in Economics and Economic History
Series Number: 189
Reviews:
  • This excellent book fills an important empirical gap in the literature of state fiscal crises, revenue elasticities, and rainy-day funds....The findings of this book are very important for state policy makers who must worry about how to deal with the next economic downturn. Professors Holcombe and Sobel have produced a book excellent for the libraries of practitioners and academics alike.
    —Government Finance Review
Description: During recessions state government fiscal crises are widespread, as states find their revenues inadequate to meet their expenditure demands. This volume shows that state fiscal crises have only one significant cause: revenue downturns associated with recessions. Other analysts have argued that fiscal crises are the result of an interaction of many complex causes, including inadequate tax bases, increasing expenditure demands, and limits placed on state governments by voters. This analysis examines these other factors and shows that while they present significant challenges to state policymakers, they are not the cause of fiscal crises. The book presents an improved methodology for measuring cyclical variability of revenues and uses this methodology to show that there is no way to restructure state tax systems in order to appreciably reduce the fiscal stress associated with recessions. Fiscal stress can be lessened by setting aside revenues during prosperous years in a rainy day fund, but current rainy day funds are not large enough to eliminate the fiscal stress caused by recessions.
Table of Contents:
  • Revenues and Expenditures: The Components of Crisis
  • State Government Spending
  • State Government Taxes
  • Budgeting for Stability: Some Principles
  • Measuring Cyclical Variability
  • The Cyclical Variability of State Government Revenues
  • The Variability of State Income and Sales Taxes
  • Is There a Trade-Off between Variability and Growth in State Government Tax Bases?
  • The Role of Rainy Day Funds in Easing State Fiscal Crises
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliography
  • Index
LC Card Number: 97-5597
LCC Class: HJ2385
Dewey Class: 336
All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2009 Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881, (203) 226-3571