Professor Shanske Comments for Wallet Hub on Taxes and Government Services
Professor Darien Shanske commented for the consumer finance website Wallet Hub on how taxpayers can measure the efficiency with which their money is being used by government to provide services.
Professor Shanske said that the kind of statistics that are typically used to evaluate government efficiency are often misleading. "For instance, for most citizens, the highest personal income tax rate might be much less relevant than the usual sales tax rate, but it is the top income tax rate that usually gets the headlines," Shanske said.
"But ordinary citizens can hold their governments accountable despite these challenges," Shanske said, encouraging citizens to look closely at schools, police, and other local services. "Our multi-tiered federal system is in part justified because it is at the local level that citizens can get sound information and can then act on it through voting at the ballot box or with their feet."
Darien Shanske is a Professor of Law at UC Davis. His academic interests include taxation, particularly state and local taxation, local government law, public finance, and political theory, particularly jurisprudence.