ABSTRACT
The 1976 renewal of general revenue sharing that passed through Congress with Ford's endorsement marked the last fiscal federalism initiative that was introduced during the Ford years. In retrospect, it is clear that the years from 1960 to 1978 were the "golden years" of fiscal federalism for state and local governments. The need for leveling up was based on the conviction that in terms of both efficiency and fairness, fiscal federalism should be reshaped to relieve immediate pressures on state-local treasuries, improve the distribution of federal-state-local fiscal burdens, and build up the vitality, efficiency, and fiscal independence of state and local governments. The ideology underlying Walter Heller's optimism—later to be supported by Presidents Johnson and Richard Nixon and finally implemented by Nixon in his policy of "New Federalism"—is best described as a "leveling of the fiscal playing field" for all governmental entities.
