Tax Revolt Research Articles

Paper Trails: Exposing Racism in the History of School Finance

AbstractHow can we better situate resource inequities between schools in the longer history of racial oppression and discrimination in the United States? This article provides both a historiographical panorama of the field on a range of topics related to school finance and a roadmap of archival and research paths. It seeks to sketch out the contours of a burgeoning field to show that historians of school finance have the potential to make racial dispossession a central tenet of their analyses. First, I lay out a longer timeline for the periodization of school finance history than most of the previous scholarship has adopted to recast school funding inequality within the racialized context of land and capital dispossession. Second, I situate school finance more explicitly in US political history, showing how the study of school funding policies can illuminate major historiographical debates such as the history of tax revolts, federalism, local governance, and the development of US capitalism. Finally, I chart some of the directions historians can follow to study a wider array of school finance policies beyond the surface of state school funding formulae to make the role of policymakers at all levels of education policy more visible, and to further ground school finance developments in their racial contexts.

“Joye without ending”: Paul Bush’s The Extripacion of Ignorancy—An Early Case for Caesaropapism

Paul Bush’s poem, The Extripacion of Ignorancy (1526), is a little known or regarded work that mixes Chaucer’s poetic tradition, orthodox theology, and obedience polemic into an advisory piece with Christian social ethics at the heart of a caesaropapism argument at least three years prior to Tyndale’s much more famous Obedience of a Christian Man. In rhyme royal, Bush explored sacred history, Scripture, and literary references to counter the harm of the Amicable Grant tax revolts and explore the value of a Crown-dominated system based on 1 Peter 2:17. By so doing, he sought to disseminate the ways and means of solving contemporary socio-political and religious tensions. The suggestion here is that Bush anticipated the arguments of the Tudor obedience polemicists of the 1530s. This article is an evaluation of the poem as a work of poetry, theology, and obedience polemic.

Tax Revolts in Yorubaland, 1925-1955

Most researchers have generally regarded taxation as the main reason for the revolt in colonial Nigeria. There are good reasons to believe that there were other significant tax-related considerations, other than taxation, that were responsible for the revolts that were thrown up in late colonial southwestern Nigeria. Some scholars have also noted a comparative process that is currently unfolding; that it was the need to raise money that forced the hands of the colonial authority into democratization and that the despondency of the indigenous population was a major reason for the crises that enveloped Yorubaland from 1925 up to 1955. These claims have been fully tested. In the article ‘Tax Revolts in Yoruba land, 1925-1955’, questions are asked and arguments explored using archival and oral evidence. The study found that the high-handedness of the Native Authority and other social and economic considerations were genuine reasons for the discontent of the indigenous population. These were significant constraints that morphed into spontaneous violent responses across Yorubaland against British colonialism.

The Emperor’s Tael: Government Commitment Failure and Tax Revolts in Qing China, 1644–1912

The Emperor’s Tael: Government Commitment Failure and Tax Revolts in Qing China, 1644–1912

Tax Revolt and Neighborhood Change: Effect of Assessment Limits

Tax Revolt and Neighborhood Change: Effect of Assessment Limits

Taxes and Tax Revolts in Eighteenth-Century France

Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, XVIII. Yüzyıl Fransa’sında vergileri ve vergi isyanlarını dönemin temel toplumsal dinamikleriyle birlikte ele alarak anlamaktır. Yazı, bu çerçevede mali olayların teknik meselelerden ziyade toplumsal mücadele tarihiyle birlikte anlaşılabileceğini vurgulamaya çalışmaktadır. XVIII. Yüzyıl, Fransız Devrimine ev sahipliği yapması ve devrimin fitilini ateşleyen olayın vergiler olması açısından oldukça önemli bir tarihsel dönemdir. Bu çerçevede yazı, XVIII. Yüzyıl Fransa’sını 1789 Devrimi öncesi ve sonrası olarak ayırarak değerlendirmeyi denemiştir. Öncelikli olarak 1789 Devrimi öncesi kentler ve kırlardaki temel toplumsal eğilimler dikkate alınarak incelenmiştir. Ardından Fransız Devrimi öncesinde mali yapının temel özellikleri değerlendirilmiştir. Devrim sırasında gerçekleşen isyanlar, Jironden ve Jakoben iktidarların ve Devrimin muhafazakâr evresinin mali anlamları çalışmanın üzerinde durduğu diğer konulardır. Ancien régime’in mali açıdan anlamı, soyluların vergi imtiyazları, köylüler üzerine yüklenen ağır vergiler ve vergilemede adaletsizlik olmuştur. XVIII. Yüzyılda, ticaret ve imalatın gelişmesi, soyluların ekonomik egemenliğini sarsmış, köyler çözülmeye başlamıştır. Artan savaşlar nedeniyle devlet maliyesinin üstüne aldığı yük, maliyeyi ancien régime’in kurallarıyla işleyemez hale getirmiş, soyluların vergi imtiyazları sorgulanmıştır. Devlet maliyesinin yaşadığı darboğaz ve yeni vergilerin soyluların direnciyle karşılaşması nedeniyle tahsil edilememesi, vergilere dair tartışmaları başlatmış, devrime giden süreci tetiklemiştir. 1789 Devrimi ancien régime’in mali açıdan adaletsizliğini ortadan kaldırmak için elverişli bir ortam sağlamıştır. Soyluların vergi imtiyazlarının kaldırılması, vergileme yetkisinin Kraldan Ulusal Meclis’e geçişi Paris halkının zorlamalarıyla kabul edilmiştir. Jakoben ve Jironden iktidarlar birbirinden farklı mali uygulamalar hayata geçirmiştir. Devrimin muhafazakâr aşamasında 1789 ile elde edilen pek çok mali kazanım erozyona uğramıştır.

Is There Discrimination in Property Taxation? Evidence from Atlanta, Georgia, 2010-2016

In the past, some localities have taxed blacks at higher real rates than whites by over-assessing property values in predominately blacks neighborhoods while taxing those properties at the same nominal rates. In 1974, the NAACP sued Fulton County, Georgia – the principal county of the Atlanta metro area – over this very issue. In 1991, a mass reappraisal intended to remedy this discrimination incited a tax revolt in Fulton. However, there are few recent studies of whether discrimination is still taking place. Using assessment data from Fulton County 2010-2016, I find little to no evidence of any racial or socioeconomic discrimination in ratios of property assessment to sale prices. This suggests that (1) the assessment process is uniform and non-discriminatory, and/or (2) the process and fee for appealing one's assessment is not inaccessible to a degree that would allow any disparities to persist, and/or (3) regression-based mass appraisal techniques are capable of eliminating racial discrimination from property assessment.

Lessons from history predicting a possible tax revolt in South Africa

South Africa is experiencing harsh economic circumstances, which negatively affects the economic environment of its citizens. Literature shows that historical tax resistance or tax revolts were mostly sparked by citizens burdened by their economic living conditions. South Africans' disgruntlement has been voiced in many ways, from resistance to E-tolls to increasing numbers of violent service protests. This article explores the economic factors present in three historical tax revolts to assess the possibility of tax resistance and/or a tax revolt in South Africa. The three historical tax revolts were identified through a purposive selection process. A systematic review was then followed to identify the economic factors present in each historical tax revolt. Finally, the economic factors deduced from the historical tax revolts were applied to the current economic situation in South Africa. The findings are that all the economic factors identified from history are currently present in South Africa, indicating the imminent possibility of a tax revolt. Whilst previous research has focused mainly on explaining past events, this article attempts to anticipate and prevent a future event. The contribution of this article is thus to underline possible economic factors that may lead to tax resistance and/or a tax revolt in South Africa. The aftermath of COVID-19 may further worsen the current economic situation, especially with the exacerbation of the already high unemployment rate that may just be a tipping point for a possible tax revolt.

Infinite Regress: Virginia School Neoliberalism and the Tax Revolt

This article examines the fortunes of American government in light of the work of James M. Buchanan, the Virginia school political economist whose thinking on constitutional revolution played a formative, if largely unrecognized, role in shaping the tax revolt. By looking backwards, to an earlier wave of constitutional tax and spending limits enacted in the American South during the Redemption era, and forwards, to the increasingly regressive nature of local government revenue generation in the wake of the tax revolt, this article shows that Virginia school neoliberalism is less an argument against taxation than an argument in favor of regressive forms of taxation that are rarely acknowledged as such—user fees, fines, and flat-rate levies. The city of Ferguson, Missouri, which has become infamous for its exorbitant use of municipal ordinance violations and court fees to fund local services, is examined as a real-world experiment in Virginia school public finance.

The Frail Bonds of Liberalism: Pensions, Schools, and the Unraveling of Fiscal Mutualism in Postwar New York

Between 1940 and 1965, state-level officials changed the relationship between two pillars of the postwar social contract: secure retirement and modern public schools. In the early twentieth century, state pension managers, following an investment regime we call “fiscal mutualism,” funneled the savings of government workers into government securities. Through direct participation in municipal bond markets, pension officials lowered the borrowing costs for local governments. Yet by the 1960s, pensions had completely abandoned this investment regime. We document this transformation through a close examination of New York State’s pension fund. Throughout the 1950s, the comptrollers who managed the New York State Employee Retirement System (NYSERS), the nation’s largest state pension, underwrote the boom in suburban school construction by purchasing the municipal bonds of local school districts. However, in response to changes in national political economy, along with shifts in the ideology guiding pension stewardship, New York Comptroller Arthur Levitt Sr. sought to deregulate the pension’s investment powers. Following the regulatory changes, Levitt disinvested from municipal bond holdings in favor of higher-yielding corporate securities. Pension deregulation secured higher returns for state retirees, but it also forced local school districts to enter bond markets without the backstop of fiscal mutualism. As school budgets, and the property taxes supporting them, soared to repay the interest costs, tax revolts became a permanent response to the fiscal volatility. These transformations, we argue, stemmed from postwar liberalism’s dependence on financial markets to deliver retirement security, public education, and other social benefits. This public dependence on private capital foreclosed more ambitious policy alternatives and ceded power to private actors—particularly investment bankers and bond investors—who prioritized their own profits over social welfare provision.

Proposition 13—America's Second Great Tax Revolt: A Forty Year Struggle for Library Survival

Proposition 13—America's Second Great Tax Revolt: A Forty Year Struggle for Library Survival

The Frail Bonds of Liberalism: Pensions, Schools, and the Unraveling of Fiscal Mutualism in Midcentury New York

Between 1940 and 1965, state-level officials changed the relationship between two pillars of the postwar social contract: secure retirement and modern public schools. In the early twentieth-century United States, state pension managers, following an investment regime we call “fiscal mutualism,” funneled the savings of government workers into government securities. By purchasing municipal bonds, pension officials lowered the borrowing costs for local governments. We analyze this regime through a close examination of New York State’s pension fund. During the 1950s, the comptrollers who managed the New York State Employee Retirement System (NYSERS), the nation’s largest state pension, subsidized suburban school construction by purchasing the bond issues of local school districts. But as changes in the financial landscape made this arrangement less viable, New York Comptroller Arthur Levitt Sr. began lobbying for the liberalization of the pension’s investment powers. After state lawmakers approved the regulatory changes, Levitt disinvested from municipal bonds in favor of higher-yielding corporate securities. Pension liberalization secured higher returns for state retirees, but it also left school districts to navigate bond markets without the backstop of fiscal mutualism. As school budgets, and the property taxes supporting them, soared to repay the interest costs, tax revolts became a permanent response to the fiscal volatility. These transformations, we argue, stemmed from postwar liberalism’s dependence on financial markets to deliver retirement security, public education, and other social benefits.

Stirrings of Revolt: Regressive Levies, the Pocketbook Squeeze, and the 1960s Roots of the 1970s Tax Revolt

Abstract:In most accounts, the modern American “tax revolt” begins with Proposition 13, passed by California voters in June 1978. In this telling, the revolt represents an antigovernment, antiliberal shift among white homeowners instrumental in the “rise of the right” and the fall of the “New Deal order” that culminated in Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 and his subsequent tax cuts. This article challenges that account by demonstrating that the revolt began more than a decade before Prop 13 as approval rates for local levies and bonds reached all-time lows. This local revolt was not limited to whites, nor did it portend rising conservatism. Instead, it was rooted in lower- and middle-income Americans’ frustrations with steep rises in unfair, regressive taxes during the post–World War II decades. The Kennedy-Johnson “Growth Liberals,” who were busy cutting progressive federal taxes at the same time that regressive state and local taxes were soaring, missed this pocketbook squeeze, thereby setting the stage for later events like Prop 13.

An analysis of current tax revolt factors in South Africa

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine whether the factors once identified through literature and compared to the current situation in South Africa could predict the possibility of a tax revolt in South Africa. South Africans are experiencing frequent increases in taxes on already overburdened taxpayers, corruption, a lack of service delivery by the government and high unemployment rates. South Africa has seen an increased amount of protests relating to taxes, corruption and a lack of basic services.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 12,000 Twitter feeds were collected from 14 February 2017 to 1 March 2017, the period before, during and after the South African National Budget Speech on 22 February 2017. The feeds were analysed using a thematic analysis. The emerging themes were identified as factors present in South Africa that may predict a possible tax revolt.FindingsThe factors found to be present in South Africa are: F1-failure of government to address the imminent collapse, F2-significant number of people with substantial debt, F3-onerous tax systems, including many different types of taxes, F4-high number of unemployed people, F5-education frustration, F6-increase in tax rates on citizens already overburdened by current taxes, F7-poor quality of governors, and performance of the country’s leaders and administration, including fraud and F8-wastefulness.Originality/valueThe value of the study is, first to contribute to the existing academic literature examining the factors that are likely to indicate a tax revolts. Second, the study uses an innovative data source, namely, tweets, to examine the climate for a possible tax revolt in South Africa.

New Fiscal Rules for State and Local Government: A Question of Institutional Complementarity

New fiscal rules, referred to as tax and expenditure limits (TELs), were enacted in many states during the tax revolt launched in the 1970s. Over the past two decades a second generation of TELs, patterned after Colorado’s TABOR Amendment, was introduced in the states. The new fiscal rules have had a limited impact in constraining fiscal policy in the states. Many state and local governments are now incurring debt at an unsustainable rate, and citizens have lost confidence in the ability of these governments to pursue prudent fiscal policies. The problem with new fiscal rules enacted in the states is not just design flaws, it is the absence of complementary institutions that are prerequisites to effective fiscal rules. In this study we focus on three institutional reforms: fiscal autonomy for subnational jurisdictions; capital market and legal reforms to restore bankruptcy procedures for state as well as local government; and strengthening institutions of direct democracy to give citizens more ‘voice’ in enacting fiscal rules and pursuing fiscal policies. New fiscal rules are effective when enacted with broad support within the community, and with effective fiscal rules in place citizens can again gain confidence in their state and local governments. Growing this ‘dynamic credence capital’ will be essential for state and local governments to solve the debt crisis.

Is There Racial Discrimination in Housing Assessment? Evidence from Fulton County/Atlanta, Georgia, 2010-2016

In the past, some localities have taxed blacks at higher real rates than whites by over-assessing property values in predominately blacks neighborhoods while taxing those properties at the same nominal rates. In 1974, the NAACP sued Fulton County, Georgia – the principal county of the Atlanta metro area – over this very issue. In 1991, a mass reappraisal intended to remedy this discrimination incited a tax revolt in Fulton. However, there are few recent studies of whether discrimination is still taking place. Using assessment data from Fulton County 2010-2016, I find little to no evidence of any racial or socioeconomic discrimination in ratios of property assessment to sale prices. This suggests that (1) the assessment process is uniform and non-discriminatory, and/or (2) the process and fee for appealing one's assessment is not inaccessible to a degree that would allow any disparities to persist.

The Impact of Tax and Expenditure Limitations on User Fees and Charges in Local Government Finance: Evidence from New England

AbstractAmerican local government financing shifted from taxation toward user fees and charges (UFCs) in the late 1970s, with substantial efficiency and equity implications. Normatively, the shift aligns with the benefit principle; positively, the shift is often attributed to tax revolts. We test the two associations via a difference-in-differences design and a fiscal stringency measure of tax and expenditure limitations (TELs); we also test the moderating effects of overrides on TELs. Our results confirm that state-imposed TELs caused the shift in local public finance; the results are robust to change of sample and empirical strategy. This article helps explain the relationship between tax revolts and non-tax revenue and provides evidence that fiscal constraints imposed by a higher level government on a constituent level can have significant effects, including effects beyond the intent of the constraints’ framers.

Tax revolts, direct democracy and representation: populist politics in the US and Canada

ABSTRACTThis paper examines ideological foundations of the ‘tax revolt’ theme in American and Canadian conservative politics, through an examination of two of its most notable expressions. One was the use of direct democracy in California in the late 1970s and early 1980s to reduce property taxes. The other was the Reform Party of Canada’s blending of appeals for more extensive direct democracy and lower taxes from the late 1980s through 2000. Each of these relied on a critique of ‘representational failure’ in their respective political orders. The popularity of direct democracy across North America has been aided by the right-populist analogy between a market that enables consumer sovereignty and direct democratic instruments that facilitate end runs around legislatures – the sites of representational failure – to allow unmediated registration of the people’s low tax, anti-statist will. Employing analytical methods and theoretical perspectives developed by Michael Freeden and Michael Saward, I identify shared and distinctive conceptual and strategic/rhetorical elements in the two cases, and suggest ways of developing a ‘hybrid’ approach to the study of populisms.

How the Great American Tax Revolt Crossed the Atlantic

How the Great American Tax Revolt Crossed the Atlantic

Land Value Taxation in Vancouver: Rent‐Seeking and the Tax Revolt

AbstractAt the beginning of the 20thcentury, Vancouver obtained international acclaim as a “single‐tax” city. Supporters claimed that land value taxation was responsible for the spectacular growth of the city. Even critics believed that it had produced a building boom and declining rents. Yet, over several decades, the system was scaled back and ultimately ended in 1984. This article argues that the property tax revolt can be understood with Mancur Olson's model of collective action. Property owners are better organized than other parties impacted by housing policy because they have financial resources and a salient economic concern in housing. Thus, the special interests of property owners in higher values and unrestricted use prevailed over the interests of tenants and prospective buyers. While the property tax revolt was often articulated in the progressive language of ability to pay, when confronted with progressive counterarguments, it collapsed into explicit arguments for rent‐seeking.