Government and Taxes
Local governments shoulder more responsibility than any other level of government for the daily quality of life in our communities. Local government officials oversee not only schools, but also basic services like public safety, streets, water and sewer, along with amenities like libraries and recreation. They also take responsibility for essential development activities such as planning and zoning. Although they are expected to provide similar services, local officials in different communities have quite different levels of resources at their disposal. These indicators examine the differing resources available to local officials and citizen satisfaction with the services they provide.
2006
Indicator 9.1: Change in municipal revenue
Indicator 9.2: Municipal debt
Indicator 9.3: Local tax burden
Indicator 9.4: State aid to municipalities
2005
Indicator 8.1: Revenues available to local governments
Indicator 8.2: Public employees per capita
Indicator 8.3: Local tax burden
Indicator 8.4: Citizen satisfaction with public services
Indicator 8.5: Taxes and amenities as reasons for moving
2004
Indicator 8.1: Tax capacity of local governments
Indicator 8.2: Fairness in local tax burdens
Indicator 8.3: Citizen satisfaction with public services
Indicator 8.4: Taxes as a motivation to move households
Note: Together with commentary, maps and figures for various indicators can be viewed by navigating to linked indicator titles. Maps and data are also available by navigating to the maps/data page of this site. Users who download any of the supporting data must download this MPIP Indicators Codebook to obtain full descriptions of the mnemonic variable names in the data spreadsheets. (download MPIP Indicators Codebook)
