One well-documented pattern in local public finance is that a disproportionate amount of the lump-sum aid received from higher levels of government is used to increase expenditures rather than reduce local taxes.
As the nation’s program of medical assistance for the poor, Medicaid, enters its 20th year, many fundamental policy questions about the program are still being worked out.
Although Congress and the administration are always talking about tax reform, there is currently heightened interest in new, all-inclusive approaches to the problem.
Although no cash actually changes hands, a significant portion of federal government resources are being used to subsidize the activities of households and private firms.
Since the days of the Dust Bowl, policy analysts and policymakers have worried that uninformed and/or indifferent farmers might wear out the very resource most crucial to their livelihood-the soil.
