State Tax Policy: A Political Perspective.

• Author: Snell, Ron
• Position: Book review

STATE TAX POLICY: A POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE BY DAVID BRUNORI. Second Edition, 2006. The Urban Institute Press, Washington, D.C. 148 pages. $26.50.

Two reasons it's good to see a second edition of State Tax Policy by David Brunori are that maybe the first edition sold out, which means a lot of people could be reading it, and second, that it's available again, so even more people can read it. As they should: This is an important and valuable book.

Brunori joins other analysts in showing how longterm national economic and demographic trends are endangering states' ability to pay for the programs they have committed themselves to providing. Where Brunori's work stands out from the crowd is in putting those issues into a political context. Unlike many tax scholars and economists, he tracks state legislative activity closely, analyzing it and commenting on what legislatures do in his regular column in the weekly publication State Tax Notes. Sometimes acerbic, occasionally approving, Brunori is well-informed on the political, partisan, and technical limits on what legislators can do.

Why is that important? It means that in addition to pointing out the flaws in state policies he can offer realistic alternatives to protect the public's fiscal interests. This book is not the sort of technical or academic presentation that seems unrealistic to those who have to draft and enact legislation. Brunori's discussions of state tax policy in general, of the major kinds of state taxes, and non-tax revenues are grounded...