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Information, Tax Salience, and Support for School Bond Referenda

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  • Eric J. Brunner
  • Mark D. Robbins
  • Bill Simonsen

Abstract

We examine whether the salience of the property tax liability implications of voting yes on a school bond referendum affects bond approval rates. We exploit the fact that school districts in Minnesota are required to explicitly note the property tax implications of voting yes on bond referenda in bold capital letters on a ballot while districts in the neighboring state of Wisconsin are only required to inform voters of the amount of bonds to be issued. Using data on local school bond passage rates from Minnesota and Wisconsin over the period 2008–2017, we find that when the property tax implications of voting yes are more salient, the fraction of voters favoring bond passage declines by approximately four to seven percentage points and the probability of bond passage falls by approximately ten percentage points. These results are robust to numerous specification checks including propensity score weighting methods and leveraging the geographic distance between school districts in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric J. Brunner & Mark D. Robbins & Bill Simonsen, 2018. "Information, Tax Salience, and Support for School Bond Referenda," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 52-73, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:pbudge:v:38:y:2018:i:4:p:52-73
    DOI: 10.1111/pbaf.12206
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    Cited by:

    1. Yaw M. Mensah & Michael P. Schoderbek & Min Cao & Savita A. Sahay, 2023. "The disciplinary effect of taxpayer balloting on public spending: some empirical evidence," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 791-819, February.

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