State and Local Public Finance
Publications and Presentations
- The Potential for Uneven Economic Development across Massachusetts Municipalities: An Analysis of the Role of Property Taxation and State Local Aid
- Revenue Sharing and the Future of the Massachusetts Economy
- Building Our Heritage: A Housing Strategy for Smart Growth and Economic Development
- Economic Revitalization: Cases and Strategies for City and Suburb
The Potential for Uneven Economic Development across
Massachusetts Municipalities: An Analysis of the Role of Property Taxation and State Local Aid 
A report released by the Dukakis Center focusing on ways to improve the economic vitality in Massachusetts by combining smarter taxation methods, increased investment in education and creative marketing strategies to attract new employees to the Bay State.
Individual State Income Tax Data
Data for Individual Income Tax Rates
Revenue Sharing and the Future of the Massachusetts Economy 
January 2006
“Revenue Sharing and the Future of the Massachusetts Economy” determined that the future economic prosperity of Massachusetts is dependent on increasing the fiscal capacity of cities and towns.
The report acknowledges that certain variables, such as cost of living and climate, will continue to disadvantage the Commonwealth in its competition for workers and business investment. But this can be addressed by recognizing that economic development turns increasingly on the ability of local communities to compete in the regional, national and global economy by offering vital public services and high-quality public amenities.
It concludes that Massachusetts must re-craft the fiscal partnership between the state and local governments if municipalities are to play their critical role in economic development, and recommends three steps towards achieving this goal:
- A new and enduring revenue sharing partnership,
- Diversifying the local tax and revenue structure, and
- Increasing local management authority.
Click here to download the full report.
Building on our Heritage: A Housing Strategy for Smart Growth
and Economic Development
October 2003
This report was developed at The Dukakis Center for the Commonwealth Housing Task Force, an ad hoc group of housing advocates, developers, business and civic leaders, and academics who began meeting in 2001 to develop solutions to the housing problem in Massachusetts. In this report, the Task Force made two recommendations:
- The state should provide financial and other incentives to local communities that pass Smart Growth Overlay Zoning Districts that allow the building of single-family homes on smaller lots and the construction of apartments for families at all income levels.
- The state should increase its commitment to fund affordable housing for families of low and moderate income.
Barry Bluestone, director of the Dukakis Center, worked with Eleanor White, a Research Associate at the Dukakis Center and president of Housing Partners, Inc. and Ted Carman, president of the Concord Square Development Company, Inc., to craft this proposal. This team, along with many others from the business, academic, and non-profit world, presented the proposal to the Massachusetts State Legislature's Housing Committees in late November. The proposal was passed into law in 2004.
To download the full report, click here
.Economic Revitalization: Cases and Strategies for City and Suburb 
Joan Fitzgerald and Nancey Green Leigh. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002
A discussion of leading revitalization strategies in the context of both city and suburban settings, offering case studies of program development and implementation. The text incorporates social justice and sustainability into how we think about and practice economic development. It discusses how revitalization strategies are implemented in both cities and suburbs, particularly inner-ring suburbs that are experiencing decline previously associated only with inner-city neighborhoods.