Dilemmas of Fiscal Reform

Paying for state and local government is an increasingly difficult task. Illinois policymakers are confronted with competing demands and a "structural deficit" at the state level, as well as with fiscal stress and fiscal disparities at the local level. This book offers a range of perspectives on the dilemmas of public policy and fiscal reform in Illinois. Contributors examine state and local fiscal trends, the crisis of public school finance, the state's social safety net, public funding for nonprofit organizations, proposals for restructuring the state and local revenue system, public opinion and the politics of fiscal reform, the changing role of the federal government, and lessons from policy and program innovations in other states.