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The Roots of Sprawl: Competition for Tax Revenue

Competition among local governments for tax revenues has helped encourage poorly planned development, often a component of sprawl.

  • Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman highlighted this problem in her January 1998 inaugural address.

  • Vermont, in 1997, adopted Act 60, the Equal Educational Opportunity Act, a comprehensive program aimed at equalizing educational funding levels for school districts throughout the state. One key component of Act 60 is a statewide property tax system to fund education -- largely replacing local property tax funding. An interesting side effect of the law may be the lessening of municipal competition for development, since the local property tax benefits of new development have been dramatically reduced. Some Vermont planners feel this may help reduce sprawl pressures.

  • School Finance and Sprawl: How Pennsylvania's System of School Finance Drives Sprawl and Undermines Pennsylvania's Older Communities. This is a paper that can be downloaded from the 10000 Friends of Pennsylvania web site.

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