The author makes a pedagogical contribution to optimal income taxation. Using a very simple model adapted from George A. Akerlof (1978), he demonstrates a key result in the approach to public economics and welfare economics pioneered by Nobel laureate James Mirrlees. He shows how incomplete information, in addition to the need to preserve…

The Governor's proposed 2009-10 budget for California postsecondary education seeks to close a two-year deficit of nearly $42 billion. The budget proposes $17.4 billion in spending reductions for 2008-09 and 2009-10, and proposes $14.3 billion in new revenues through tax and fee increases. The budget also assumes $10 billion in external borrowing…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple decisions made every year in each of these areas. No single report can provide definitive answers to such broad and fundamental questions of public…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple decisions made every year in each of these areas. No single report can provide definitive answers to such broad and fundamental questions of public…

Community colleges often rely on local taxes as an important revenue source and must occasionally seek voter approval for a local mill levy increase--a tax on property to fund a specific activity. This chapter describes strategies for planning and carrying out a campaign for securing that approval.

Financing higher education requires political leaders, policymakers, and educators to address broad public policy questions, including ascertaining: the levels of state funding to colleges and universities that are necessary to maintain the economic and social well-being of the American people; the tuition levels that are appropriate given the…