New Federalism: 2nd Edition

Abstract

When the Reagan Administration took office in 1981, it concentrated its domestic efforts upon national government spending, deficits, and inflation. Its major proposed remedies have consisted of "supply-side" economics, cuts in the rates of federal spending on non-military programs and a return to greater state/local responsibility for public policy initiatives and financing. It is with this last aspect of the Reagan proposals that the present work is concerned: the impact and policy implications of federal decentralization on Arkansas. The option of a state tax increase is explored as Arkansas' response.