Fiscal Research Center¹
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

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.

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

Geographic Breakdown of Georgia’s Interstate Migration Patterns (Jon Rork) a brief looking at the geographic breakdown of Georgia's interstate migration patterns for both the elderly and non-elderly. FRC Brief 137 (December 2006)

Inventory Taxes (John Matthews) a report reviewing the potential effectiveness of such exemptions and presents alternative approaches to inventory tax exemptions. FRC Report 136 (December 2006)

An Assessment of the State of Georgia’s Budget Reserves (Carolyn Bourdeaux) a report assessing the adequacy of Georgia’s revenue shortfall reserve. FRC Report 135 (October 2006)

Revenue Losses from Exemptions of Goods from the Georgia Sales and Use Tax (William J. Smith and Mary Beth Walker) a report providing estimates of the revenue loss from sales tax exemptions. FRC Report 134 (September 2006)

Tax Collectibility and Tax Compliance in Georgia (James Alm, David L. Sjoquist, and Sally Wallace) a report discussing the tax gap in Georgia and options for increasing tax compliance. FRC Report 133 (September 2006)

Four Easy Steps to a Fiscal Train Wreck: The Florida How-To Guide (Richard Hawkins) a report (the second of three reports) addressing the fiscal conditions of other states, explores the factors that explain the conditions, and the likely future trends. FRC Report 132 (August 2006)

The “Roller Coaster” of California State Budgeting After Proposition 13 (Robert Wassmer) a report (the first of three reports) addressing the fiscal conditions of other states, explores the factors that explain the conditions, and the likely future trends. FRC Report 131 (July 2006)

Personal Property Tax on Motor Vehicles (Laura Wheeler, John Matthews and David L. Sjoquist) a brief showing the expected reduction in the property tax base in each county if motor vehicles were tax exempt. FRC Brief 130 (July 2006)

Adequate Funding of Education in Georgia: What Does It Mean, What Might It Cost, How Could It Be Implemented? (David L. Sjoquist and Abdullah Khan) a report containing a discussion of what adequate funding for education means and how it has been estimated for other states. The report then explores the financial implications for Georgia of funding adequacy. FRC Report/Brief 129 (May 2006)

Legislative Influences on Performance-Based Budgeting Reform (Carolyn Bourdeaux). Using data from several surveys of the states as well as a survey of Georgia state legislators, this report examines the role of legislators in the implementation of performance-based management and budgeting reforms. FRC Report/Brief 128 (May 2006)

A Georgia Fiscal History of the Past Forty Years (Richard Hawkins) a report describing the spending and revenue trends through four decades and relates the trends to the agendas of the state's governors. It concludes with a list of challenges for this decade and beyond. FRC Report/Brief 127 (April 2006)

Gasoline Taxes in Georgia (William J. Smith) a report describing and comparing Georgia’s fuel tax with other states and evaluates it as a long-term dedicated revenue source for highway funding in the state. FRC Report/Brief 126 (April 2006)

A Historical Shift Share Analysis for Georgia (Peter Bluestone) a report analyzing the trends in Georgia’s industrial composition and employment over the period 1970-2000 using shift share analysis. FRC Report/Brief 125 (March 2006)

The Demographics of Georgia III: Lesbian and Gay Couples (Gregory B. Lewis). Using 2000 Census data, this report compares the residential patterns, household incomes, house values, property taxes, and parenting patterns of Georgia’s same-sex and different-sex couples. FRC Report/Brief 124 (March 2006)

The Demographics of Georgia IV: Hispanic Immigration Economic Policy Issues (Felix Rioja, Neven Valev, and Amanda Wilsker) a report analyzing the economic policy issues in education, health care, the labor market, financial services and the fiscal impact arising from the large increase in Hispanic immigration in Georgia. FRC Report/Brief 122 (March 2006)

Georgia’s Taxes Per Capita and Per $1,000 of Income: Comparisons and Trends (Peter Bluestone) a report analyzing the trends in Georgia’s taxes per capita and taxes per $1,000 of personal income for the period 1981–2002. FRC Report/Brief 121 (February 2006)

The Demographics of Georgia I:  Population in the State of Georgia: Trends and Projections to 2030 (Glenwood Ross) a report exploring trends in Georgia population dynamics and projects population growth to the year 2030. FRC Report/Brief 120 (February 2006)

An Examination of Georgia’s Premium Tax. (Martin F. Grace) a brief analyzing the effects of changing the structure the insurance premium tax on tax revenues in Georgia.  FRC Brief 119 (February 2006)

Georgia’s Taxes: A Summary of Major State and Local Government Taxes, 11th Edition (Jack Morton and Richard Hawkins). 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 2006, The Fiscal Impact covered these topics:

• By the Numbers: Georgia's Index of State Economic Momentum
• Trends in Gas Tax Revenue
• Property Tax Burdens in Georgia's School Districts
• A Cross-State Comparison of Income Tax Structures
• A Cross-State Comparison of Corporate Income Tax Structures
• Property Tax Burdens along Georgia's Border
• Georgia's Growing Hispanic Population
• Using Tax Increment Financing to “Clean Up” Brownfields
• State Tax Collection by Source: Georgia versus the Southeast and the Nation

Fiscal Notes are revenue estimates of proposed legislation distributed to the General Assembly and staff. During 2006, the Fiscal Research Center published over 100 Fiscal Notes.

FRC staff and associated faculty prepared the following Policy Memoranda:

• Number of Local Governments. David L. Sjoquist
• Sales Tax Rate Required to Replace the Income Tax. David L. Sjoquist
• Options for the Property Tax on Inventory. John Matthews and David L. Sjoquist
• Analysis of HB 1323, Infrastructure Development Districts. John Matthews
• An Initial Analysis of HR 162. David L. Sjoquist

During 2006, the FRC also released An Evaluation of the Performance and Impact of the Harris Homes Hope VI Revitalization. This final report summarizes the findings of a five-year study of the redevelopment project. This evaluation is the result of the research conducted by many individuals at Georgia State University. The project directors were: David Sjoquist (Fiscal Research Center, Andrew Young School) and James Wolk (School of Social Work, College of Health and Human Sciences).

Visitors and Other Activities

The Fiscal Research Center was happy to host 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 Young School.

The FRC hosted seminars and visiting lecturers on the following subjects:

January 2006
Howard Chernick (CUNY) presented on "Redistribution: Consequences for Economic Growth in U.S. States"

April 2006
The Fiscal Relations and Fiscal Conditions Conference held on Thursday and Friday, April 20 and 21, 2006, was sponsored by The Department of Economics and the Fiscal Research Center at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.

Speakers included:

• Richard Bird with Enid Slack (University of Toronto) on “Cities in Canadian Federalism”
• Howard Chernick (Hunter College) with Andrew Reschovsky (University of Wisconsin-Madison) on “Fiscal Conditions for Selected Metropolitan Areas”
• Gary Cornia (Brigham Young University) on Thoughts about Utah’s Fiscal Conditions
• William Duncombe (Syracuse University) on “Costing Out the Implementation of NCLB: Is It an Under-Funded Mandate”
• Ronald Fisher (Michigan State University) on Thoughts about Michigan’s Fiscal Conditions
• Richard Hawkins (University of West Florida) on “Four Easy Steps to a Fiscal Train Wreck: The Florida How-To Guide”
• Brian Knight (Brown University) on “The Fiscal Impact of Political Integration: Evidence from School District Consolidation” papers written with Nora Gordon (University of CA-San Diego)
• Craig Maher (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh) with Mark Skidmore (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) on “Education Finance Reform, School Referenda Activity and Success Rates: Evidence from Wisconsin”
• Matthew Murray (University of Tennessee) with Jason Fletcher (University of Wisconsin-Madison) on “What Factors Influence the Structure of the State Income Tax”
• Leslie Papke (Michigan State University) on “The Effects of Changes in Michigan’s School Finance System”
• Robert Strauss with Joshua Hart (Carnegie Mellon University) on “The Financial Position of Pennsylvania’s Public Sectors: Past, Present, and Future”
• Robert Wassmer (California State University-Sacramento) on “The Roller Coaster of California State Budgeting After Proposition 13”
• David Wildasin (University of Kentucky) on “Disaster Relief and Preparedness: Intergovernmental Fiscal and Regulatory Structures”

Facilitators Included:

• James Alm (Georgia State University) 
• Roy Bahl (Georgia State University)
• William Fox (University of Tennessee) 
• Jorge Martinez (Georgia State University)
• Sally Wallace (Georgia State University)
• Laura Wheeler (Georgia State University)

September 2006
Don Fullerton (University of Texas) presented "The General Equilibrium Incidence of Environmental Mandates."

October 2006
The Third Annual Dan Sweat Lecture featured Jane Hannaway (The Urban Institute) who presented, "Accountability and the Classroom: A New Light Inside the Black Box of Schooling."

Projects

Analysis of Strategic Management. Theodore Poister. Funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), this project analyzes performance monitoring, reporting systems, and management practices of the GDOT comparative case studies of three other state DOTs. ($410,379)

Analytical Analysis of Consent Decree. David Sjoquist. Funded by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, this project serves as the fiscal agent to assist the accountability agents and provide analytical analysis. ($796,757)

Budgeting and Public Finance Training. David Sjoquist. Funded by the City of Atlanta, this project provides weekly clinics to City of Atlanta staff on topics related to budgeting and public finance. ($18,000)

Development of a Model for Forecasting Foster Care Caseloads for Georgia. Shiferaw Gurmu. Funded by Georgia Department of Community Health, this project examines caseloads for Medicaid and Peach Care. ($27,719)

Economic Impact Study. Bruce Seaman. Funded by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, this project generates an economic impact model to assess economic benefits of local sporting and cultural events. ($23,714)

Evaluation of Performance and Impact of HOPE VI Community Revitalization (Harris Homes). 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)

Executive Training Program. Carolyn Bourdeaux. Funded by the Georgia Governor’s Office, this project provides training in developing performance measures, budgetary processes, and program evaluation. ($17,820)

Fiscal Economist, State of Georgia. Kenneth Heaghney. Funded by the Georgia Governor’s office, this project provides the Governor’s office of planning and budget services including annual forecast of revenue and analysis of the Georgia economy. ($487,398)

Fuel Price Adjustment Study. Robert Eger. This project, funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), conducts research and provides a study of fuel price adjustments and the basis for the adjustments. ($70,662)

Future Transportation Revenue. David Sjoquist. Funded by the Georgia Institute of Technology, this project investigates how state transportation agencies forecast future revenues and recommends a methodology for use in forecasting future transportation revenue. ($75,000)

Georgia Department of Transportation 2006 Employee Survey. Theodore Poister. Funded by the Georgia Institute of Technology, this project includes survey preparation, data analysis, and presentation/reporting of survey results. ($148,906)

Legislative Policy Briefing. David Sjoquist. Funded by The University of Georgia Foundation, 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. Theodore Poister. Funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation, this project conducts surveys on the process and performance of external shareholders to improve efficiency and develop a more productive working relationship. ($693,813)

Welfare to Work Dynamics. Julie L. Hotchkiss. Funded by the University of Baltimore, Maryland, this grant supports research on evaluation of the transition from welfare to work. ($115,000)

Technical Assistance

The FRC staff and associated faculty provided technical assistance to numerous government officials and agencies. These included:

• Armstrong State University
• Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG)
• Board of Regents
• City of Atlanta
• Commission for a New Georgia, Rural Development Council
• Georgia Department of Human Resources
• Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism
• Georgia Department of Labor
• Georgia Department of Revenue
• Georgia Department of Transportation
• Georgia Economic Developers Association
• Georgia Governor's Education Review Commission
• Georgia Governor's Office
• Georgia Municipal Association
• Georgia Occupational Review Council
• Georgia Quality Growth Partnership (and its Legislative Committee)
• House Insurance Committee
• House Insurance Premium Study Committee
• Joint Study Committee on Franchise Fees and Conditions, Rights of Way, and Tax Implications of Competitive Markets
• Office of Planning and Budget
• Senate Research Office
• Senate Insurance Committee
• State of Georgia Budgetary Responsibility Oversight Committee
• Technical Advisory Council (TAC) to the Georgia Rural Development Council
• University of Georgia
• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Senate Finance Committee
• House Ways and Means Committee

In addition, associated staff provided direct assistance to the State of Georgia Senate, House of Representative, and the State of Georgia Governor’s Office.

1. For a complete listing of AYSPS Active Research Sponsored Grants from CY2006, see the Appendix: Report on External Funding.