Fiscal Aspects of State-Local Relations
| Author | George W. Spicer |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624020700120 |
| Published date | 01 January 1940 |
| Date | 01 January 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
151
Fiscal
Aspects
of
State-Local
Relations
By
GEORGE
W.
SPICER
NOWHERE
is
the
relation
between
N
state
and
local
government
more
intimate
and
inextricable
than
in
the
realm
of
fiscal
affairs.
Nowhere
has
the
flow
of
authority
and
supervision
from
a
lower
to
a
higher
level
of
government
been
more
rapid
and
widespread
than
with
respect
to
fiscal
affairs.
There
was
a
time
when
local
services
were
sup-
ported
largely,
if
not
wholly,
from
local
revenues;
and
when
the
major
part
of
state
revenue
was
even
collected
by
lo-
cal
officials.
It
is
true
that
the
sources
of
local
revenue
have
usually
been
de-
termined
by
the
state,
and
that
fiscal
officers
in
localities,
such
as
assessors,
collectors,
and
treasurers,
have
been
pre-
scribed
by
constitutional
or
statutory
law;
but
within
this
framework
the
local
authorities
were
originally
free
to
move
without
restriction.
1
That
was
the
day
of
a
simple
agri-
cultural
society
when
governmental
problems
were
few
in
number
and
simple
in
nature,
and
when
each
local
govern-
mental
unit
was
essentially
self-con-
tained.
Economic
and
social
life
was
then
organized
largely
on
a
local
basis,
and
the functions
of
self-government
were
of
local
interest
only.
It
is
obvious
that
these
conditions
have
long
since
passed.
Just
as
economic,
social,
pro-
fessional,
and
occupational
interests
have
transcended
local
and,
to
a
less
extent,
state
lines,
so
governmental
func-
tions
in
response
to
these
changes
have
come
to
concern
wider
and
wider
areas
and
larger
and
larger
populations.
Poor
schooling
in
one
district
affects
the
char-
acter
of
life
and
citizenship
in
the
state
as
a
whole,
thanks
to
modern
mobility
of
population.
The
problems
of
public
health
with
which
government
now
con-
cerns
itself
on
a
large
scale
cannot
be
confined
within
the
boundaries
of
coun-
ties
and
cities,
nor
can
those
of
public
welfare
and
relief.
Underassessment
of
taxes
in
one
county
or
city
affects
tax-
payers
in
other
areas,
and
public
bor-
rowing
by
local
units
affects
the
entire
state.
The
credit
of
the
state
cannot
be
separated
from
that
of
its
subdivisions
any
more
than
the
financial
stability
of
a
central
bank
can
be
safeguarded
against
financial
folly
on
the
part
of
its
branches.
Each
unit
acts
and
reacts
upon
the
other,
for
no
government
can
operate
within
a
vacuum.
OVERLAPPING
FUNCTIONS
With
these
rapid
and
far-reaching
changes
in
our
economic
and
industrial
life,
accompanied
by
rapid
means
of
transportation
and
communication,
it
is
no
longer
easy
to
determine
what
is
a
local
function
and
what
is
a
state
func-
tion.
Such
functions
as
schools,
public
safety,
and
highways
illustrate
this
point.
None
of
these
is
any
longer
ex-
clusively
locally
controlled
or
locally
financed.
Thus
there
seems
to
be
no
clear-cut
line
between
state
and
local
functions.
Many
are
both
local
and
state,
and
demand
a
high
degree
of
co-
operation.
Moreover,
these
same
changes
have
caused
a
shift
in
the
available
sources
of
revenue
from
the
local
units
to
wider
areas.
The
general
property
tax,
which
was
until
the
end
of
the
nineteenth
cen-
tury
the
main
source
of
both
state
and
local
revenues,
is
now
not
adequate
even
to
support
the increased
or
expanded
services
demanded
by
the
local
commu-
nities.
In
the
meantime
the
state
has
developed
new
and
elastic
sources
of
revenue
such
as
the
inheritance
tax,
the
1
See
L.
D.
White,
Introduction
to
the
Study
of
Public
Administration
(New
York,
1939),
p.
170.
at SAGE PUBLICATIONS on November 29, 2012ann.sagepub.comDownloaded from
To continue reading
Request your trial