The Inequity of User Fees and the Overreliance by Communities to Generate Revenue

Abstract

One of the largest sources of revenue for local government are user fees and charges. Increased reliance upon user fees and charges by many jurisdictions has coincided with their attempts to deal with the fall out of the Great Recession. This study aims to assess the regressive distributional effects that increased reliance upon user fees and charges have on poorer communities. While it is clear that the United States operates a mixed economy where private sector organizations or firms address many economic activities, and government undertakes other economic activity, the juxtaposition of user fees in this environment is unclear.