4 ms·

What incentive would local governments have to find a niche? I don't see how there are more votes in attracting childless professionals vs poor families.

• AnthonyMouse 14y ago
  People want the government to provide the services that they use. Everyone wants the roads to be paved and clean water to come out of the tap and the fire department to show up when you call them. To do that, you have to have a tax base capable of providing the revenue to do all of those things. To do that, you have to attract and retain affluent residents for your tax jurisdiction. If you take from the middle class to give to the poor and the next city over doesn't, those middle class people vote with their feet, and then you no longer have that money to spend on anything, and your remaining constituents are upset with you when the drop in revenue necessitates a drop in spending.
  • d4nt 14y ago
    But if you're that next city and you don't take from the middle classes and give to the poor then you already have no money to spend on those things. And what's more, the poor will probably now vote in someone who will take from the middle classes. So I think things will bump around at some middle point much like they do today.
    • AnthonyMouse 14y ago
      >But if you're that next city and you don't take from the middle classes and give to the poor then you already have no money to spend on those things. Which is ostensibly what the majority in that city wanted, because they voted for officials who set things up that way. And then once that happens, the people who want things that way (i.e. the middle class) from other cities move to that city, and the people who don't (the poor) leave for some other place, which bolsters popular support in that city for things remaining the way they are.