Fiscal Research Center
The Fiscal Research Center (FRC) provides nonpartisan research, technical assistance and education in the evaluation and design of state and local fiscal and economic policy, including both tax and expenditure issues. The FRC mission is to promote the development of sound public policy and public understanding of issues concerning state and local governments. Established in 1995, the program helps provide information to state and local governments so they can make informed decisions about complex fiscal issues. The program has a full-time staff and affiliated faculty from throughout Georgia State University and elsewhere who lead its research projects.
One of the objectives of the FRC is to help inform and stimulate debate on fiscal policy. The Center publishes Policy Briefs, which are widely distributed summaries of longer reports, as well as essays on issues confronting the state. The program also organizes periodic Seminars, Workshops, Luncheons and Conferences during which fiscal policy makers, administrators, and faculty discuss fiscal policy issues. David L. Sjoquist is Director of the Fiscal Research Center, and Sally Wallace is Associate Director.
In This Page:
• Research Agenda• Reports
• Visitors and Other Activities
• Projects
• Technical Assistance
Research Agenda
The research agenda of the Fiscal Research Program is composed of three broad categories: Intergovernmental Issues, Tax Policy, and the Georgia Economy. Each category is comprised of a set of projects that are FRC focus areas for state policy. Lead researchers for each project are identified.
Intergovernmental Issues:
Education Finance Project. Explores issues associated with education financing and delivery of education in Georgia.
Georgia Intergovernmental Project. Explores issues inherent in relationships between state and local governments.
Local Government Project. Focuses on fiscal and financial issues of local governments.
Tax and Expenditure Policy:
Business Tax Project. Addresses the taxation of banking, insurance, and corporations.
Income Tax Project. Analyzes the structure and impact of income taxation.
Property Tax Project. Focuses on the structure, administration, and effects of property taxation.
Sales and Excise Tax Project. Studies of the structure, administration, and effects of sales and excise taxation.
Tax Modeling Project. Involves the development of a sophisticated computer-based model for use in the analysis of tax policy proposals.
Telecommunication/Public Utilities Project. Focuses on alternatives in the taxation of public utilities.
State Budget Project. Concerns policy issues associated with government budgeting.
The Georgia Economy:
Economic Development Project. Addresses the many issues relevant to the state's economic development efforts.
Georgia Data Project. Involves development of a database built on the Unemployment Insurance records from the Department of Labor, welfare records for the Department of Human Resources, and other agency databases.
Georgia Economy Project. Studies various sectors and aspects of the Georgia economy such as banking, changes in the distribution of income, and changes in the location of retail sales.
Reports
Laura Wheeler, Sally Wallace and Lakshmi Pandey. "The Fair Tax and Its Effect on Georgia," a brief analyzing the impacts of a national retail sales tax on Georgians, FRC Report/Brief 118, December 2005.
David L. Sjoquist. "A Tax Limitation for Georgia?" a brief examining the need for a tax limitation in Georgia and the issues of design of tax or expenditure limitations, FRC Report/Brief 117, December 2005.
Glenn Landers, Clare S. Richie, David Sjoquist, Sally Wallace, and Angelino Viceisza. "Georgia’s Aging Population: What to Expect and How to Cope," a report analyzing the impacts of Georgia’s aging population on state finances, FRC Report/Brief 116, November 2005.
Laura Wheeler. "Potential Effect of Eliminating the State Corporate Income Tax on State Economic Activity," a report analyzing the effects to state employment and investment of eliminating the state corporate income tax, FRC Report/Brief 115, October 2005.
Peter Bluestone, John Matthews, David L. Sjoquist, William J. Smith, Sally Wallace, and Laura Wheeler. "Financing an Increased State Role in Funding K-12 Education: An Analysis of Issues and Options," an analysis of replacing school property tax with alternative state revenue sources, FRC Report 114, October 2005.
Douglas Noonan, Douglas Krupka and Brett Baden. "Neighborhood Dynamics and Price Effects of Superfund Site Clean-Up," a report using census data to analyze the price effects of superfund site clean-up, inclusive of both direct price effects and indirect effects through clean-up's effect on neighborhood demographic transitions and reinvestment in the housing stock, FRC Report/Brief 113, October 2005.
James Alm, Edward Sennoga and Mark Skidmore. "Perfect Competition, Spatial Competition, and Tax Incidence in the Retail Gasoline Market," a report using monthly gas price data for all 50 U.S. states over the period 1984-1999 to examine the incidence of state gasoline excise taxes, FRC Report/Brief 112, September 2005.
Laura Wheeler. "The Research and Development Tax Credit for Georgia," a report describing the existing Georgia State R&D tax credit and explores the implications of modifying its current design, FRC Report/Brief 111, September 2005.
W. Bartley Hildreth, Matthew N. Murray and David L. Sjoquist. "Cooperation on Competition: The Multistate Tax Commission and State Corporate Tax Uniformity," a report exploring how interstate uniformity of state corporate income taxes has varied over time, the role played by the MTC, and how likely it is that uniformity will be achieved, FRC Report 110, August 2005.
John Matthews. "Tax Revenue Volatility and a State-Wide Education Sales Tax," a brief examining issues of revenue source stability raised by proposals to shift K-12 education costs from local property taxes to a state-wide sales tax, FRC Brief 109, June 2005.
Jeanie Thomas. "Accountability for Economic Development Incentives in Georgia," report identifying Georgia's major economic development incentives and other forms of public finance support and calls for a comprehensive evaluation of public expenditures in this area, FRC Report/Brief 108, July 2005.
Lakshmi Pandey, Erdal Tekin and Sally Wallace. "Teen Childbearing and Public Assistance in Georgia," a brief examining the link between teen births and welfare, FRC Brief 107, May 2005.
Lakshmi Pandey, Erdal Tekin and Sally Wallace. "The Link Between Teen Childbearing and Employment in Georgia," a brief analyzing teen births and employment of teen mothers, FRC Brief 106, May 2005.
Peter Bluestone. "What Georgians Are Thinking about Taxes III," the third of three briefs reporting on telephone surveys of Georgians, FRC Brief 105, April 2005.
Peter Bluestone. "What Georgians Are Thinking about Taxes II," the second of three briefs reporting on telephone surveys of Georgians, FRC Brief 104, April 2005.
John Matthews. "Fiscal Capacity of Counties in Georgia," a brief examining the fiscal strength of Georgia’s counties, FRC Brief 103, April 2005.
David P. Richardson. "Status of Health and Pension Benefits for Employees of the State of Georgia in 2004," a report analyzing the Health and Retirement Package offer to employees of the State of Georgia, FRC Report/Brief 102, April 2005.
Peter Bluestone and Sally Wallace. "What Georgians are Thinking about Taxes I," the first of three briefs reporting on telephone surveys of Georgians, FRC Brief 101, March 2005.
Mary Mathewes Kassis and David Boldt. "A Historical Perspective of Georgia’s Economy," a report chronicling the history of Georgia’s economy from the 1950s to the present and providing an outlook for the future growth areas in Georgia, FRC Report/Brief 100, February 2005.
Lakshmi Pandey and David Sjoquist. "How Different are Sales Tax Rates along Georgia’s Border?" a report providing a comparison of sales tax rates in counties on Georgia’s borders, FRC Brief 99, February 2005.
Jack Morton and Richard Hawkins. "Georgia’s Taxes: A Summary of Major State and Local Government Taxes," 11th Edition, a handbook on taxation that provides a quick overview of all state and local taxes in Georgia. FRC Annual Publication, A(11), January 2005.
Other Publications
The Fiscal Impact is distributed to the State of Georgia General Assembly and staff. During 2005, The Fiscal Impact covered these topics:
- Georgia’s Lottery
- Elderly Population Age Distribution
- Budgetary Implications of Georgia’s Aging Population
- Health Status of Georgia's Elderly
- Georgia's Healthcare Inventory for the Elderly
- Individual Income Tax Expenditures for the Retiree Exemption
- Georgia by the Numbers
Fiscal Notes are revenue estimates of proposed legislation. For the 2005 session of the General Assembly, we prepared 66 Fiscal Notes.
Additional research results and published memoranda are published as a part of the AtlantaCensus2000 project. During 2005, AtlantaCensus2000 published:
- Geography of Education Attainment in the Atlanta Region
Projects
Analysis of Strategic Management. (Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)). Theodore Poister. This project analyzes performance monitoring, reporting systems, and management practices of the GDOT comparative case studies of three other state DOTs. ($410,379)
Barriers to Employment and Welfare to Work. (University of Kentucky). Shiferaw Gurmu. This project examines the effect of access and various characteristics on the probability of employment and the time until recidivism for TANF cases. ($19,998)
Development of a Model for Forecasting Foster Care Caseloads for Georgia. (Georgia Department of Community Health). Shiferaw Gurmu. This project examines caseloads for Medicaid and Peach Care. ($19,644)
Evaluation of Performance and Impact of HOPE VI Community Revitalization (Harris Homes). (City of Atlanta). David L. Sjoquist, James Wolk, Fred Brooks, and Sally Wallace. This project conducts a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of the HOPE VI revitalization program at Harris Homes for the Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta. ($491,937)
Feasibility Study on Comprehensive Maintenance Contract in GDOT. (Georgia Institute of Technology). Robert Eger. This project conducts research and provides a cost/vendor analysis and quality standard assessment. ($136,499)
Fiscal Economist, State of Georgia. (Georgia Governor’s Office). Kenneth Heaghney. This project provides the Governor’s office of planning and budget services including annual forecast of revenue and analysis of the Georgia economy. ($190,725)
Framework for Forecasting Welfare Caseloads in Georgia. (Georgia Department of Human Resources). David L. Sjoquist and Shiferaw Gurmu. This project proposes alternative modeling approaches to the development of a framework for generating monthly and quarterly forecasts of welfare caseloads in Georgia. ($23,322)
Georgia Demographic Analysis to Measure Future Public Finances. (Healthcare Georgia Foundation). Sally Wallace. This project considers the impacts of an aging population on budgetary implications in Georgia. ($63,000)
Legislative Policy Briefing. (The University of Georgia Foundation). David Sjoquist. This project provides analysis on replacing property tax for education with a state sales tax. ($12,500)
Piloting Stakeholder Surveys for the Georgia Department of Transportation. (Georgia Department of Transportation). Theodore Poister. This project conducts surveys on the process and performance of external shareholders to improve efficiency and develop a more productive working relationship.
Study of Liquid Asphalt Price Indices Applications to Georgia Pavement Contracting. (Georgia Institute of Technology). Robert Eger. This project proposes applicability of asphalt indexing through the identification of liquid asphalt price adjustment practices, policies, and specifications in the five adjacent states to Georgia, and generates a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of price adjustment practices for potential utilization by GDOT in hot mix asphalt bid pricing. ($41,222)
Welfare to Work Dynamics. (University of Maryland, Baltimore). Julie L. Hotchkiss. This grant supports research on evaluation of the transition from welfare to work. ($115,000)
Visitors and Other Activities
The Fiscal Research Center hosted visiting scholars who traveled to Georgia State University to conduct research.
The Fiscal Research Center participated in several presentations to international visitors to the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Visitors learned about various economic development research conducted in the FRC and the Andrew Young School.
The FRC hosted seminars and visiting lecturers on the following subjects:
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March 2005 |
Henry Thompson, Auburn University, presented on "Croatia's Accession to the EU: Projected Adjustments in a Specific Factors Model." | |
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April 2005 |
Jay Mackie, U.S. Treasury Department, presented on "Tax Reform, Asset Values, and Transition Relief for Old Capital." | |
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October 2005 |
Erik Hanushek, Stanford University's Hoover Institute, presented on "The Economic Importance of School Quality." This lecture and reception was hosted with the Dan L. Sweat Lecture Series. | |
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October 2005 |
Douglas Krupka presented on "The Stability of Mixed-Income Neighborhoods in America 1990-2000." | |
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October 2005 |
Matthew Murray, University of Tennessee, presented on "State Tax Amnesties: Policy Adoption and Revenue Effects." | |
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November 2005 |
Yu-Hung Hong, Lincoln Institute, presented on "In Search of A Property Tax Reform Strategy: The People's Republic of China." |
Technical Assistance
The FRC staff and associated faculty provided technical assistance to numerous government officials and agencies. These included:
- Georgia Governor's Office
- Senate Research Office
- Office of Planning and Budget
- Georgia Occupational Review Council
- Georgia Governor's Education Review Commission
- Senate Insurance Committee
- House Insurance Committee
- House Insurance Premium Study Committee
- Georgia Department of Human Resources
- Georgia Department of Labor
- Armstrong State University
- State of Georgia Budgetary Responsibility Oversight Committee
- Joint Study Committee on Franchise Fees and Conditions, Rights of Way, and Tax Implications of Competitive Markets
- Technical Advisory Council (TAC) to the Georgia Rural Development Council
- Georgia Quality Growth Partnership (and its Legislative Committee)
- Georgia Economic Developers Association
- University of Georgia
- Board of Regents
- Georgia Department of Revenue
- City of Atlanta
- Georgia Municipal Association
- Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Senate Finance Committee
- House Ways and Means Committee
- Commission for a New Georgia, Rural Development Council
- Association County Commissioners of Georgia
In addition, associated staff provided direct assistance to various State of Georgia Senate, House of Representative, and the State of Georgia Governor’s Office.