Taxing the State: The Politics of Changing Taxes in the American States is a comparative analysis that explores the socioeconomic and political causes and effects of tax policy and budget spending at the state level.
The chapters analyze the level of taxation as political action undertaken by the state. Richard F. Winters makes a key contribution to the politics of taxation by examining the causes and electoral consequences of tax changes and compares the political strategies that governors employ in the face of tax changes.
This book will be of interest for students and scholars of American politics, state and local politics, comparative political economy, and public administration and policy.
By:
Richard F. Winters
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 910g
ISBN: 9781032998473
ISBN 10: 1032998474
Pages: 394
Publication Date: 31 October 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
College/higher education
,
Adult education
,
Primary
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Contributors Foreword Introduction: Thinking about Taxing and Spending in the American States I. Taxing Politics. 1. Decomposing the Aggregates and Deconstructing the Composites of Taxing and Spending in the States. 2. Political Choice, Taxing, and Expenditure Change: How, Why, and When Spending Drives Taxing . . . and vice-versa. II. How Party and Ideology Shape Taxation. 3. Taxing or Not-Taxing as Variables. 4. Tax Policy Changes in the American States (with Carlisle Rainey and Kevin Stout). 5. Varying Political Party Control and Tax Changes. 6. Party & Ideology in Governors in Shaping Tax Changes (with Tyler E. Frisbee and Nicholas Dominguez). III. Non-obvious Taxing and Spending. 7. The Obscure Tax of Corruption in the American States (with Amanda Tomlinson) 8. Preferences Matter: How Charitability Preferences as expressed by Behavior Affect Spending and, therefore, Taxing (with Dan Rygorsky) IV. Assessing the Consequences of Taxing via Individual-level Data. 9. The Individual Politics of Taxes and the Vote (with Brian Stults). V. Electoral Consequences of Taxation Are Attenuated Via Electoral Strategies 10. “Governor Quits!” The Strategic Personal & Political Economy of Foregoing Re-election (with Rich-Marroncelli). 11. “Forget about all that ‘read my lips’ stuff, OK?”: The Short History of Gubernatorial Election and Re-election Strategies in the Face of New Tax Programs. VI. Conclusion: politics and taxing. 12. On Why Government Taxes in the American States Are Rationally Too Small and Poorly Distributed
Richard F. Winters taught for forty‑three years and retired as the William Clinton Story Remsen Class of ‘43 Professor Emeritus of Government at Dartmouth College. He now lives in Oakton, VA, and Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he is also a research associate with the Department of Political Science at Williams College.
