Farm Tax Incidence in Tennessee

The above discussion points out that the benefits from taxation in the various counties are in the form of numerous kinds of public services, with education and highways being the most important. It also shows that the benefits, as measured by the percentage of the total expenditures, from the different functions and services vary greatly from county to county. In some counties so large a percentage of the total available funds is spent for one or two functions, as education and highways, that the amount and quality of other public services is reduced to a minus. It is apparent that: (1) The benefits cannot be measured in dollars and cents. They can be measured only by comparisons or relatively. (2) As measured by comparisons, the benefits from taxation vary greatly from county to county, both as to type and value. (3) The "benefits" received from the general property tax are not in proportion to the incidence of the tax. This is shown by the fact that some counties receive a greater quantity and better quality of public services that other counties, while the burden of taxation falls as heavily on the taxpayer of one county as of the other. Another example is the fact that the property owner with no children probably pays as much or more tax for schools than the family with several children to be educated.