ABSTRACT
That property taxes and schools have an influence on the geographical spread of population and businesses in a metropolitan area is taken as given by many observers of urban form. In fact, little systematic evidence exists to support or refute this view. There is a large empirical literature examining the question of whether property taxes are an important determinant of intrametropolitan location decisions of businesses, but these studies do not ask whether property taxes encourage geographic dispersion of business locations. In terms of the influence of schools on the dispersion of population in a metropolitan area, we have been able to find no systematic evidence.
