Lecture Notes #5

POLS 220

N BERCH

FALL 2013

 

Taxes

 

I.                     “Who Pays What?” is important and less noticed=incidence

A.      progressive taxes

B.      proportional taxes

C.      regressive taxes

 

II.                  Look at different taxes

A.       Federal income tax is generally progressive

1.        rates are very progressive

2.       not as progressive as they used to be

3.       tax breaks make it less progressive

B.       FICA (Social Security/Medicare) tax is regressive

1.        seems proportional

2.       only on earned income

3.       cap of a little over $100,000 on most

C.       Federal excise taxes are regressive

1.       poor spend greater percentages of income on gas, alcohol, tobacco

2.       other purposes for tax

D.       State income taxes vary

1.        WV somewhat progressive (not as much as it used to be)

a.        mini-version of Federal

b.      sometimes brackets outdated

2.        PA almost proportional—slightly progressive

3.       Some MW states have single rate with exemptions

a.        slightly progressive

b.      examples:  IL, MI, OH

4.        ME system--% of federal income tax

a.        currently   about a third

b.      efficient

c.       most progressive

d.      politically challenging

5.        tax breaks make system less progressive

a.       deductions similar to federal

b.      deducting federal tax itself

E.        State sales taxes are regressive

1.        poor consume more of their income

2.       tax breaks usually make it less regressive

a.        PA exempts most food and clothing

b.      some states offer small income tax rebates

F.       State and local property taxes are regressive

1.        doesn’t appear that way at first

2.       renters pay property tax

3.       assessment process favors wealthy

4.       fixed income elderly

5.       you can only own so much home

6.       tax breaks (circuit breakers and homestead exemptions) make property taxes less regressive

G.       State excise taxes are regressive

H.      State and Federal corporate income taxes are progressive

 

III.                 Overall tax incidence

A.       Federal system is mildly progressive

1.        especially progressive with respect to the poor

2.       progressive tax outweighs other regressive taxes

3.       less progressive than it used to be

B.       state and local systems vary

1.        HI, VT, MN, OR, MT, DE are proportional to slightly regressive—rely on progressive income tax

2.       TX, TN, SD, FL, NH, WA are all highly regressive

a.        average poor person pays 15%

b.      average wealthy person pays 3%

c.       no income taxes

d.      rely on property and/or sales taxes

e.      Tiger Woods, , Phil Mickelson, Papa Bush all rational actors

3.        average state and local system is pretty regressive

a.        poor pay 14%

b.      wealthy pay 6%

4.        WV is pretty close to average

a.        poor pay 13%

b.      wealthy pay 7%

c.       progressive income tax is offset by sales tax with few exemptions

d.      property tax is less important

C.       Combined federal, state, and local system is barely progressive

D.      Why do some states have more progressive tax systems than others?  History, income, interest groups, parties, brackets.

Blog Assignment Due Wednesday, November 6

Hi, everyone! 
This blog assignment (worth 3 points, and due by 1:00 pm on November 6) is to review and comment on the structure of local government in Morgantown.  As discussed in class, Morgantown, like many medium-sized cities has a council-manager form of government.  The legislative branch of government is the part-time city council, which is elected in nonpartisan elections for two year terms.  There are 7 council members, each of who lives in one of the city's 7 wards (districts), but all are elected in city-wide elections.  There is a mayor, but s/he is elected by the council and has no real power.  And, as noted in the class, the electoral system (electing people city-wide in what are known as at-large elections) reduces the electoral power of a geographically concentrated minority group (students).  If the geographically concentrated minority group were a racial or ethnic minority, Morgantown probably would not be permitted to elect a city council in this way (that's the way many towns in the South used to elect a city council, in a blatant attempt to reduce the representation of African Americans), but discrimination against students is permitted.

The council then hires a city manager, who is Morgantown's chief administrator, overseeing the various departments of government.  That person is a professional administrator (usually with a Master's degree in Public Administration), and s/he serves full-time at the pleasure of the city council.  The city manager recommends policy, provides information to the council as requested, and handles the day-to-day business of the city.  The council has final word on policy decisions, including the hiring of department heads.

The advantage of the council-manager system is that it removes politics from administration.  Who you know should not have an impact on when, how, or if you get city services.  And it allows the decisions to be made by a full-time professional rather than a part-time city council (whose members have other responsibilities in their lives).  On the other hand, some argue that this is undemocratic, leaving too much power in the hands of an unelected official.  There is also often a tension between the council and the manager.  The council sometimes tries to micromanage (every council member envisioning themselves as a city manager).  Alternatively, sometimes the manager tries to set policy and usurp the legislative function, perhaps by controlling the flow of information.  There is a delicate balance that must be maintained, and it leads to relatively short terms for city managers in many places (they also are often looking to move up to larger cities).  Morgantown has sometimes had this problem. 

Your assignment is to address the question of whether Morgantown should change its system of government.  Specifically:
1.  Should Morgantown change the way it elects its city council members so that only those in each ward elect the representative of that ward?  You may want to consider the particular situation in Morgantown (would the city function better if student areas could elect their own representatives?), and you may want to consider the more general question (should city council members each represent small local districts, or should they represent the entire city?).
2.  Should Morgantown keep the council-manager form of government, or should it shift to the leading alternative:  the council-strong mayor form of government?  In that system, the council is the legislative body, but there is an elected (and usually full-time) mayor, who carries out the executive role, including veto power, appointing department heads, etc.  Many larger cities follow that model, where the mayor is equivalent to the governor in a state system.

Be thoughtful in your responses, and also consider material that others have written on these questions.  Take a look at:
http://www.coventryri.org/council-manager-form-of-government
This a description of the council-manager form, complete with advantages and disadvantages, published by the town of Coventry, RI, which uses this form.
http://www.rockvillemd.gov/FAQ/formofgov.htm
This is similar information from Rockville, MD, which also uses the council-manager form.
http://icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/topics/kn/Topic/64/CouncilManager_Form_of_Government
The International County/City Management Association is a professional management group (they thus favor council-manager), but they have a variety of helpful information.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/31/sd-voters-will-be-asked-to-decide-if-strong-mayor/
Finally, this is an article on whether San Diego, which switched from council-manager to council-strong mayor, should switch back.  It presents both sides.

The material I've given you here is a bit unbalanced (in favor of council-manager), but that's the state of the literature (which is often written by managers).  You can find material on the other side if you look hard. 
Be creative, argue (respectfully) with one another, and make use of the material that is out there.  Good luck!--NB

Lecture notes #4

POLS 220

N BERCH

FALL 2013

 

Bureaucracy

 

I.                     Comparison of WVU bureaucracy with that of Marlboro College

 

II.                  Size of bureaucracy (as % of workforce)

A.       1954—federal = 2.4%            total = 7.2%

B.      1984—federal  = 2.9%            total = 16.0%

C.      pretty stable since then

 

III.                Reason for rise of bureaucracy

A.       complexity of society—two ways

B.      complexity of legislation—leads to puff-ball

C.      fiscal federalism

 

IV.                 General characteristics of bureaucracy

A.       merit-based civil service

1.        didn’t used to be (Garfield)

2.       states were slower to eliminate patronage—moralistic states moved most quickly

B.       testing—rule of 3

C.      hierarchy

D.      specialization—Jimmy Carter and the mouse

E.       job security—has advantages and disadvantages

F.       adherence to rules

 

V.                   Problems with bureaucracy

A.       tough to abolish useless agencies

B.      overlap between agencies

C.      impersonality

D.      lack of control by elected officials (especially with part-time government at the local level)

E.       hard to fire people

 

VI.                Good points

A.       Fairness?

B.      regulation is often needed and good for the public

C.      any better ideas?

 

VII.              Checks on bureaucratic power

A.       Budget control

B.      oversight

C.      gubernatorial appointment—some

D.      sunset laws

1.        theory behind

2.       drawbacks—morale and recruiting

3.       WV has limited sunset laws

 

 

The Judiciary

 

 

I.                     How are judges chosen?

A.       Partisan elections

1.        high on responsibility

2.       low on independence

3.       costly—involve interest groups

4.       can exclude qualified judges

5.       democratic

6.       couldn’t campaign on judicial issues—now changed

7.       fairly high turnout

B.       Nonpartisan elections

1.        lower turnout

2.       still costly

3.       are they really non-partisan?

4.       popularity contests

C.       gubernatorial appointment

1.        often with confirmation

2.       appointed by elected official

3.       sometimes a payoff

4.       sometimes happens in other systems

D.       legislative elections—leads to ex-legislators

E.       merit systems

1.        often a variation on the Missouri Plan

2.       panel chooses candidates

3.       governor picks

4.       sometimes confirmation

5.       retention election

6.       merit may not work

7.       non-retention is a rarity

 

II.                   Key issues facing judicial system

A.       Plea-bargaining

B.      backlogs

C.      jail space

 

 

Local Government

 

I.                       General  impressions of local government

A.       accessible

B.      less competent (perhaps)

C.      honesty?

D.      spoils system

 

II.                  local government deals with complex, heated issues

A.       often NIMBY (sometimes PPIMBY)

B.      resources

C.      waste

D.      education

E.       race and class

 

III.                Four structures

A.       council-mayor (strong)

1.        responsible executive

2.       often has an administrator

3.       big cities of Northeast and Midwest

4.       too much power?

B.       council-mayor (weak)

1.        small towns (and others)

2.       power in hands of council

3.       Jerry Springer

C.       commission

1.        expertise

2.       fiefdoms

3.       largely discredited

D.       council-manager

1.        removes politics from administration

2.       usually in medium-sized cities

3.       manager can control council

4.       council can try to micromanage

 

IV.                 Morgantown

A.       council-manager

B.      seven members chosen by ward—sort of

1.        about 4000 people per ward

2.       elections are city-wide—hurts student representation

C.       mayor chosen by council

D.      non-partisan elections, but many party ties

E.       some conflicts with managers before Boroff.  After Boroff??  Looks like more conflict

F.       college towns are different