ABSTRACT
The stripped-down property tax lends itself readily to the benefits concept; but it is by no means alone, for the principle can easily be extended to a good many parts of the local finance scene. Determining the extent of the services to be financed wholly or largely from property tax revenue would be one of the key functions of local lawmakers. Competition with neighboring jurisdictions would be confined to the quite rational game of providing a satisfactorily high level of services at a satisfactorily low price. One time-honored rule of public finance is that the more diversified a tax system is, the more bearable the imperfections of any one levy. In the event that the California pattern of trimming the property tax, long the mainstay of local finance, becomes a general trend, there can be little doubt that there will be important shifts of fiscal responsibility for many basic services to higher levels of government.
