Taxing and Spending Politics: A Generational Perspective

Abstract

The aging of the American population has important ramifications for public policy. Economists have long been predicting intergenerational economic warfare based upon their close look at the nation's changing demographics. It is time for political scientists to focus on this issue, especially since taxing and spending issues are increasingly at the forefront of most elections, whether at the national or state and local levels. This research examines some of the existing myths about different age groups' taxing and spending preferences. It is based on data generated from annual surveys of people 18 years and older by the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Florida Survey Research Laboratory, and perennial surveys by the Times Mirror Center for The People & The Press, Gallup, Roper, and the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center, among others. The results suggest that as the intergenerational competition for scarce resources intensifies, the older generations are likely to ...