IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/flgsxx/v52y2026i4p688-710.html

When do cities propose taxes? Evidence from California municipalities, 1996–2010

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel R. Alvord
  • Jennifer M. Nations

Abstract

What prompts city leaders to propose new taxes? While prior research emphasises voter preferences, this paper examines how fiscal constraints and city leaders’ own assessments shape municipal tax proposals. Using a unique dataset of tax proposals from California cities between 1996 and 2010, we find that declines in discretionary revenues are correlated with tax proposal. However, rather than expanding discretionary capacity, city leaders often respond by proposing earmarked taxes, which may be more politically palatable but fiscally constraining. We also analyse survey data from municipal officials for select years and find that city leaders’ negative evaluative assessments of fiscal outlook predict tax proposals in subsequent years. This research contributes to theories of fiscal democracy by highlighting tradeoffs in local revenue policymaking.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel R. Alvord & Jennifer M. Nations, 2026. "When do cities propose taxes? Evidence from California municipalities, 1996–2010," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(4), pages 688-710, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:52:y:2026:i:4:p:688-710
    DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2025.2539956
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03003930.2025.2539956
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/03003930.2025.2539956?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:52:y:2026:i:4:p:688-710. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/flgs .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.