Trends and Disparities in State Fiscal Capacity

摘要

Trends and disparities in State fiscal capacity measures are presented, based on data from 1967, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, and projections of 1982. The report describes (1) an index of per capita personal income (PCI), (2) the representative tax system (RTS) index, and (3) proposed export adjusted per capita income (EAI) index. For each of the three indexes, the paper presents a description of recent capacity variations among States, an analysis of trends in capacity over the years for which data are available, and statistics of interstate disparities and the trends therein. It also provides comparative analyses of the differences between the two indexes currently in contention for official status -- relative PCI and the RTS -- and of the differences between each of these two and the illustrative EAI index. Because the EAI is new and unfamiliar, its construction method is explained in detail, and an assessment is offered of both its current quality and the prospects for future improvement. Tabular data, notes, and 8 references are supplied. Additional information about estimates of price/migration exportation is appended.