scholarly journals Did Cuts in State Aid During the Great Recession Lead to Changes in Local Property Taxes?

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajashri Chakrabarti ◽  
Max Livingston ◽  
Joydeep Roy
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Local Property ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Recession Period

The Great Recession led to marked declines in state revenue. In this paper we investigate whether (and how) local school districts modified their funding and taxing decisions in response to state aid declines in the post-recession period. Our results reveal school districts responded to state aid cuts in the post-recession period by countering these cuts. Relative to the pre-recession period, a unit decrease in state aid was associated with a relative increase in local funding. To further probe the school district role, we explore whether the property tax rate, which reflects decisions of districts facing budgetary needs, responded to state aid cuts. We find, relative to the pre-recession period, the post-recession period was characterized by a strong negative relationship between property tax rate and state aid per pupil. We also find important heterogeneities in these responses by region, property wealth, and importance of School Tax Relief Program revenue in district budgets.

Municipal response to the Great Recession

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cary Christian ◽  
Jonathan Bush
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Levels ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Financial Condition ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the Great Recession on small- to medium-sized municipalities within the states of Georgia and Florida using a newly developed set of quantitative indices. Design/methodology/approach An examination of the methods and strategies utilized by individual cities to maintain public service levels despite distressed revenues is performed. From the data, performance measures are developed and used to evaluate the efficacy of the various strategies used by the cities. Outcomes of Georgia municipalities were compared to similarly sized Florida municipalities to study how underlying differences in tax structures and economies might have affected those outcomes. Findings Georgia and Florida municipalities relied on very different strategies for surviving the recession and its aftermath. Enterprise activities were critically important in both states with transfers to or from governmental activities rationalized in various ways. While Georgia is generally anti-property tax, more than half the Georgia municipalities relied on property tax increases to survive. Municipalities were unable to count on increased intergovernmental revenues during the recession. Finally, even with a tourist activity advantage, Florida municipalities fared only marginally better during and just after the recession, and fared worse four to six years post-recession. Practical implications The measures developed in this study provide a new, customizable methodology for the evaluation of financial condition that does not require in-depth comparisons to peers. Social implications Small- and medium-sized cities, and especially those in rural areas, are worthy of targeted research to better understand their unique problems. Originality/value This research is novel in utilizing a fiscal condition methodology that can be applied to a single municipality and does not require comparisons to peers for validity. However, it represents a very intuitive and customizable tool for making comparisons between municipalities of any size when such comparisons are desired. Additionally, the focus of this study is on small- to medium-sized municipalities which generally do not receive as much research attention as larger cities.

An Analysis of Big 4 Pricing and Firm Size: The Differential Impact of Demand and Supply Shocks on Large and Small Clients

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Alali ◽  
Randal Elder ◽  
Jian Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Audit Market ◽  
Sarbanes Oxley ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Recession Period

We investigate Big 4 pricing over the period of 2000 to 2010. We classify the data into five periods: 2000-2001 as the pre-Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) period, 2002-2003 as the SOX period, 2004-2006 as the Auditing Standard 2 (AS2) period, 2007 as the AS5 period, and 2008-2010 as the Great Recession period. The shocks to the audit market associated with these changes in auditing regulations and the economic environment have differential impacts on large clients and small clients. The percentage of small clients using Big 4 auditors dropped significantly over these shocks, whereas the percentage of large clients using Big 4 auditors experienced a large drop only from the SOX period to the AS2 period. We find that Big 4 pricing increased significantly from the pre-SOX period to the SOX period and continued to increase significantly in the AS2 period. Big 4 pricing experienced a significant decline in the AS5 period and declined insignificantly in the Great Recession period. Big 4 small firm pricing decreased significantly in the AS2 period compared with the SOX period and in the Great Recession period compared with the AS5 period. We find that the Big 4 pricing for small clients is contingent on the nature of competition. The Big 4 charged small firms higher prices in the SOX period, AS5 period, and Great Recession period when competition was lower. Our paper provides a unique contribution as a comprehensive analysis of Big 4 pricing and Big 4 small firm pricing.

scholarly journals The Great Recession and Public Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
William N. Evans ◽  
Robert M. Schwab ◽  
Kathryn L. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
State Governments ◽  
School Employees ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Public Education Finance ◽  
Work First ◽  
School Spending

We examine the impact of the Great Recession on public education finance and employment. Five major themes emerge from our work. First, nearly 300,000 school employees lost their jobs. Second, schools that were heavily dependent financially on state governments were particularly vulnerable to the recession. Third, local revenues from the property tax actually increased during the recession, primarily because millage rates rose in response to declining property values. Fourth, inequality in school spending rose sharply during the Great Recession. We argue, however, that we need to be very cautious about this result. School spending inequality has risen steadily since 2000; the trend in inequality we see in the 2008–13 period is very similar to the trend we see in the 2000–08 period. Fifth, the federal government's efforts to shield education from some of the worst effects of the recession achieved their major goal.

Strategic Interaction Among Overlapping Local Jurisdictions

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 584-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer T. Brien
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
Strategic Interaction ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Strategic Interactions ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Tax Rate

This article explores the strategic interactions between overlapping counties and school districts within the context of property tax policy. Overlapping local governments share either part or all of their property tax bases and therefore may take into account each other’s tax policies when deciding their annual property tax rate. A dynamic model is developed to analyze how property tax rate determination is influenced by the fiscal policies of both overlapping and neighboring local jurisdictions. The results suggest a short-term mimicking effect that is largely canceled out the following period. These findings help to develop a more complete understanding of how the broader set of environmental and institutional attributes of local governments influence their fiscal policies.

VALIDATING CHINA'S OUTPUT DATA USING SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 3327-3354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Morris ◽  
Junjie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Gross Domestic Product ◽  
Nitrogen Dioxide ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
National Level ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Dynamic Panel ◽  
Output Data ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Recession Period

Can officially reported output figures be externally validated? This paper presents a dynamic panel framework for assessing statistics using verifiable signals of economic activity. In this context, satellite readings of nitrogen dioxide, a byproduct of combustion, are forwarded. The problem of validating China's reported gross domestic product at the sub-national level during two recent downturns is considered. During the Great Recession period, reported figures are validated for some regions, but not others, including specifically those known to be inaccurate.

Determinants of Homeownership among Immigrants: Changes during the Great Recession and Beyond

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 648-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kusum Mundra ◽  
Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Household Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Recession Period

In this paper, we explore factors correlated with immigrant homeownership before and after the Great Recession. We focus solely on immigrants because of recent evidence that suggests homeownership rates declined less for immigrants than natives in the United States during the recession and onward. Specifically, we examine to what extent an immigrant's income, savings, length of stay in the destination country, citizenship status, and birthplace networks affected the probability of homeownership before the recession, and how these impacts on homeownership changed since the recession. We examine these questions using microdata for the years 2000–2012. Our results suggest that citizenship status, birthplace network, family size, savings, household income, and length of stay are significant for an immigrant's homeownership. In comparing the pre‐recession period to the period afterward, we find that the impact of birthplace networks on homeownership probabilities doubled while the impact of savings slightly declined.

scholarly journals The Employment Effects of State Hiring Credits

ILR Review ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1111-1145 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Neumark ◽  
Diego Grijalva
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Employment Growth ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Employment Effects ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Job Growth ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
New Jobs ◽  
Recession Period

State and federal policymakers grappling with the aftermath of the Great Recession sought ways to spur job creation, in many cases adopting hiring credits to encourage employers to create new jobs. Virtually no evidence is available, however, on the effects of these kinds of counter-recessionary hiring credits, with the only evidence coming from much earlier studies of the federal New Jobs Tax Credit in the 1970s. This article provides evidence on the effects of state hiring credits on job growth. Some specific types of hiring credits—including those targeting the unemployed, those that allow states to recapture credits when job creation goals are not met, and refundable hiring credits—appear to have succeeded in boosting job growth, particularly during the Great Recession period and perhaps also during recessions in general. At the same time, some evidence suggests that these credits can generate much more hiring than net employment growth, consistent with the credits encouraging churning of employees that raises the cost of producing jobs through hiring credits.

Limits of Property Taxes and Charges: City Revenue Structures After the Great Recession

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunji Kim
Keyword(s):  
Public Finance ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
Property Taxes ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
Stable Property ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Expenditure Limitations ◽  
Urban Places

Public finance theories argue local governments should primarily use broad-based and stable property taxes. However, the housing bust after the Great Recession challenges this argument, and historical trends show cities have heavily relied on charges since the late 1970s. Using 2012 Census of Governments data for 2,396 cities, this article explores which cities rely more on charges and the links between property tax dependence and city stress. Regression results show property tax dependence is linked to capacity, while charges dependence is linked to stress. Charges can be a useful revenue tool for cities under stress, but they may be regressive and their use may be limited to urban places with services that can be charged for and cities with growth pressures and less stringent tax and expenditure limitations. Absent equalization efforts from higher-level governments, barriers to using charges, which cities have little control over, may increase inequality among cities.

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