Revenue Alternatives for State and Local Governments: Crisis‐ridden Areas and Those Seeking Fiscal Equity and Stability Offered New Options

Abstract

Abstract. State and local governments—those ridden by revenue crises and those committed to an effort to achieve fiscal equity and stability—have a variety of revenue alternatives open to them from recent research and accumulated knowledge in the discipline of public finance. These options are defined and explained in Financing and Managing State and Local Governments by two fiscal specialists, Richard W. Lindholm and Hartojo Wignjowijoto. Federal aid to the 47 largest cities has risen to a third of their total revenues without solving their fiscal problems. The authors show how tax reform emphasizing substitution of a land value tax for the taxes on improvements and personalty, and reform of public planning and management policies could orient government activity to maximizing society's goals instead of society's problems. The role of local government fiscal policy in the national economy is explained through a clear and concise description of macroeconomic model‐building.