The Tax Revolt: A Comparative State Analysis

Abstract

This paper introduces and tests eight explanations of tax revolt success in the American states. The point of the paper is to try to distinguish between the 18 states in which tax revolts have occurred (according to criteria developed in this paper) and the 32 states in which successful tax revolts have not taken place. Of all the explanations that are considered, none works very well. The best showing is made by the diffusion of innovations explanation, which points future analysis of mass-based movements such as the tax revolt toward further development of the diffusion framework laid out by Walker, Gray, and others.