AERA Open ( IF 3.427 ) Pub Date : 2021-02-08 , DOI: 10.1177/2332858420988712 Alex E. Combs 1 , John M. Foster 2
Homestead exemptions for senior and disabled homeowners disproportionally erode rural tax bases but may still stimulate local educational spending. This article examines one such exemption in Kentucky. Two-stage generalized method of moments is used to estimate the demand for local education spending, then spending in the absence of the exemption is simulated to estimate effects on school district expenditure and academic performance. We combine Census and National Center of Education Statistics data with detailed exemption and academic performance data from Kentucky’s Departments of Revenue and Education into a panel spanning 1999–2013. Results suggest the exemption provides relatively generous tax relief without increasing resource and academic achievement gaps between rural and nonrural districts. This is largely attributable to Kentucky’s strong school finance equalization effort. Our findings can help states with a similarly targeted exemption consider such impacts in relation to their own demography and funding systems.
中文翻译:
老年人和残疾人的宅基地豁免对学区的影响
对高级和残疾人房主的住房免税额不成比例地侵蚀了农村税基,但仍可能刺激当地的教育支出。本文研究了肯塔基州的一项此类豁免。使用两阶段的广义矩法来估计对当地教育支出的需求,然后模拟没有豁免的支出来估计对学区支出和学业成绩的影响。我们将人口普查和国家教育统计中心的数据与来自肯塔基州税收和教育局的详细免税和学术表现数据相结合,组成了一个涵盖1999-2013年的小组。结果表明,免税可以提供相对宽松的税收减免,而不会增加农村地区和非农村地区之间的资源和学术成就差距。这主要归因于肯塔基州大力进行学校财政均等化工作。我们的发现可以帮助具有类似针对性豁免的州考虑与其自身人口统计和资金系统相关的此类影响。