1 chapter 18 fiscal federalism and state and local government finance
TRANSCRIPT
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Chapter 18
Fiscal Federalism and State and Local Government Finance
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Levels of Government
Federal State County (called a Parish in Louisiana) School, Water, Fire, Sanitation District City, Town, Village
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Grants-in-Aid
The federal government sends 15% of its tax revenue to state and local governments.
Most of this money goes to fund Medicaid and TANF programs that states are required to provide.
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Fiscal Federalism
Fiscal Federalism is the structure of the levels of governments in which each level has sources of revenues and economic or fiscal responsibilities.
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Local Public Goods
Examples: local streets sewers and sanitation systems parks police protection fire protection
Local public goods are goods that create no rivalry to the good within a certain geographic area.
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Providing Local Public Goods Locally The benefit of providing local public goods with
local tax dollars is that the preferences of the population using the services can be matched with their willingness to pay taxes to receive them.
The problem with providing local public goods with local tax dollars is that differences in the ability to pay between local jurisdictions can cause differences in the provision of public goods: This is sometimes seen as inequitable.
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Centralized vs Decentralized Decisions An important problem for a society: which goods
and services should be provided at which level of government?
Are equity concerns more or less important than the concerns of matching preferences to service levels? For instance, should primary and secondary education be provided nationally or locally?
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Mobility between Jurisdictions: Voting with Your Feet
When local public goods are provided in differing amounts in different communities, citizens can move from one jurisdiction to another to match their preferences for local public goods.
This concept is called the Tiebout model, in which people choose jurisdictions as they choose any good. Each jurisdiction provides services that come at a price (the tax rate) and people can choose how much government to consume by choosing where they want to live.
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The Global Economy and Federalism
The European Union (EU): pushed federalism beyond national borders by
agreeing to establish uniform regulations and tax systems to establish more integrated economies.
eliminated border and customs controls between member nations.
replaced individual currencies with the Euro The U.S.
Infrastructure and education have increasingly become the responsibility of state and local government.
Tax competition among states often limits their ability to raise revenue
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Interjurisdictional Externalities
Costs or benefits accrue to citizens in one jurisdiction that result from the public goods choices of another jurisdiction.
A suburb with higher taxes to provide better parks may provide recreation to more than just its own citizens.
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The Theory of Taxation with a Decentralized System
The Tax Base
People being taxed can move to another jurisdiction as a result of a tax placed upon them. The elasticity of the tax base represents this as the percentage change in the tax base divided by the percentage change in the tax rate.
A new tax can therefore increase overall revenues or decrease overall revenues, depending upon whether the new tax raises more revenue from a new base being taxed than is lost from existing taxes because people leave the jurisdiction.
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Tax Base Elasticity, Tax Rates and Revenues
Values of ET Changes in Tax Rates t
Changes in Revenues (tB)
ET > –1
(inelastic)
An increase in t
A decrease in t
Revenues increase
Revenues decrease
ET = –1
(Unit elastic)
Either an increase or a
decrease in t
No change in Revenues
ET < –1
(elastic)
An increase in t
A decrease in t
Revenues decrease
Revenues increase
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Tax Competition and Tax Exporting
Jurisdictions attempt to lure residents and business to an area by offering them lower tax rates or tax abatements. This is called tax competition. For example, governments issue tax abatements to industries if they agree to move to their community.
When jurisdictions place a tax on a good that is consumed by people who do not live in the jurisdiction this is called tax exporting. For example, cities place a hotel tax on visitors to their communities.
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Fiscal Capacity
Per capita income Per capita retail sales Per capita assessed valuation
Fiscal capacity is a measure of a jurisdiction’s ability to raise revenue.
Possible Measures
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Revenue Effort
Revenue effort is a measure of how much revenue a jurisdiction is collecting relative to how much it could collect.
It is typically measured as the ratio of the tax collections from all sources in a jurisdiction to its per capita income.
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Interstate Tax Exportation Many state governments do succeed in exporting their tax
burden to residents of other states.
Tax exportation arises in a variety of ways: Tax out-of-state input owners who employ their inputs in the
state Tax goods and services purchased by out-of-state individual Tax hotels and entertainment activities
The federal deductibility of state and local income and property taxes from taxable income under the income tax amounts to tax exportation.
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Governmental Grants Categorical Grants are grants by one level of government to
another to support a specific program. Matching Grants are grants by one level of government to
another that must be matched by the receiving government in support of a program.
Unconditional Grants are grants by one level of government to another that may be used for any broad purpose. Sometimes called Block Grants or Revenue Sharing.
Because money not spent in one area when a grant is received can be spent in another, a restricted grant may serve unintended purposes. This is called fungibility.
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Federal Grants in Aid Year Grants as a Percent of
State and Local
Outlays
Federal Outlays
GDP
1970 19.0 12.3 2.4
1980 26.3 15.5 3.5
1990 18.7 10.8 2.5
2002 26.3 17.5 3.4
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The Theory of Grants
If you are in the role of the Federal Government you can provide the good; provide local governments with an incentive
to provide the good themselves with matching grants, or
provide local governments with the means to provide the good with categorical grants or with block grants.
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Figure 18.1 Political Equilibrium: A Matching Grant Versus a Nonmatching Grant of Equal Value
Slope = – ti(1 – m)
C
A
B
Slope = – ti
A'
B'
Public Goods per Year
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Impact of a Nonmatching Grant on the Political Equilibrium
A nonmatching grant would likely (depending on the preferences of the median voter) increase both the level of public goods produced as well as allow for lower taxes so that more private goods could be consumed.
Less of the grant is devoted to public goods with a nonmatching grant than with a matching grant.
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Figure 18.2 Matching Grant
MBN = MSB 10
MBL
MSC
Net Gain in Well-Being
Grant per Unit
Local Cost
Abatement
8
E*
150100
A
E
of Abatement
per Unit of
Pollution Abated per Year (Thousands of Pounds)
Co
st
of
Re
mo
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l pe
r P
ou
nd
(D
olla
rs)
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Education Finance
What is the proper role of the federal government in school finance? The question is one of equity vs local control. Because some school districts are poor relative to others, a completely local system could be seen as inequitable. On the other hand, local control of the curriculum is seen as important as well.