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Journal Article
Interstate fiscal disparity in 1997
Readily available tax statistics tell state and local policymakers the amount and mix of revenues that their governments receive. However, these officials pose harder fiscal questions than simply how much money is flowing into their coffers and from what sources. They frequently ask, What is our state's capacity to raise revenues, regardless of how much we actually collect? To what extent do we utilize that capacity? Is our revenue capacity sufficient to finance our state's need for public services? These questions are especially salient today, given that during state fiscal year 2002 ...
Journal Article
Come the devolution, will states be able to respond?
Since the founding of the Republic, Americans have engaged in endless debate about the division of fiscal and regulatory responsibilities among levels of government. The controversy has often involved the concomitant question of the optimal role of government as a whole. The issue has been not only which level of government should do what, but also what government at any level should do.
Journal Article
Heat, light, and taxes in the granite state.
Journal Article
Devolution: the new federalism, an overview
In recent years, a growing number of scholars and policymakers have concluded that the federal government has become too large and powerful, intruding into affairs better handled by states and municipalities. Based on this premise, they have argued for a reduction in federal aid, the conversion of matching grants to block grants, greater flexibility for states in implementing federally funded programs, and curtailment of federal mandates. Their program is popularly referred to as devolution, the devolving of federal responsibilities to lower levels of government. The controversy that ...
Journal Article
The neutrality of Massachusetts' taxation of financial institutions
The provision of financial services has changed dramatically over the past two decades. Technological innovation and deregulation have extended providers' geographic range and broadened the array of products they are capable of delivering. These changes have intensified competition among financial service firms. In recent years Massachusetts, like other states, has passed legislation designed to narrow disparities among the tax burdens of these institutions. At the same time, the Commonwealth has passed tax cuts designed to enhance the competitiveness of Massachusetts-based financial ...
Journal Article
Unemployment insurance policy in New England: background and issues
Almost two-thirds of the states, and all the New England states except New Hampshire, have exhausted their unemployment insurance trust fund and borrowed from the federal government at least once during the past 35 years. Under such circumstances, states are required by law to raise unemployment insurance taxes in order to replenish their trust funds and to pay off their debts to the federal government. Since higher unemployment insurance taxes increase employer costs, replenishment forces states into a trade-off between economic competitiveness and trust fund adequacy. In recent years, ...
Journal Article
Retrospective of the 1980s
Journal Article
Fiscal condition of the New England states
Journal Article
Equity in the distribution of Massachusetts tax burdens