Suchergebnisse

AbstractAs the result of accumulated public policy, the distribution of personal income in the United States has been drastically altered over the last twenty‐five to thirty years. Over the same period, there have been massive increases in both private and public debt. These changes are important factors behind an unprecedented redistribution of income. While the causes are multiple, one major driving force behind the altered distribution of income is change in the revenue structure of our three levels of government: a) in terms of who pays the taxes and other revenue sources (and who does not), and b) change in emphasis, rates, and revenue sources collected. This presentation and analysis focuses on a) personal income, b) revenue collection across the range personal of income, and c) the incidence of revenue as it relates to business versus personal income and wealth by federal and sub‐national (state and local) governments. Over time, the revenue structure of the federal system has been downloaded on the personal income of middle‐ and low‐income residents. The class war is over. It has already been won ‐ by the very wealthy, the corporate elites, and the multinationals.

Urban scholars have paid little or no attention to ramifications of the way the U.S. Senate is structured. Because of the Connecticut Compromise, the 26 smallest states with less than 18% of the U.S. population have an institutional lock on, and a potential veto over, basic public policies and all legislation going through Congress. Because small states are generally less urban, the Senate heavily underrepresents central cities and ethnic minorities and massively overrepresents suburban and rural/small-town residents, as well as the inhabitants of Mountain, New England, and West North Central regions. Moreover, federal grants unduly support not only small, less urban states but also tax-rich states.

Scholars in the area of state and local government, for the most part, ignore local governments called towns and townships, write them off as insignificant, or assume they will wither away and disappear over the next few years. Yet, these presumably insignificant local governments serve 51 million residents, nearly half the population of township states, and are of increasing importance as local governing bodies in urban and suburban areas. The activities of township governments range from providing very limited service to acting as full-scale municipal corporations that provide all local public schools and even county-type services.