96-F-18. Jinno, Naohiko and Andrew DeWit, "Institutionalism and the Intergovernmental Allocation of Taxes", Sept. 1996.

This paper challenges the mainstream public finance principle of benefit taxation, which advocates a rigid intergovernmental division of tax bases. We contend that the principle of benefit taxation is empirically suspect and often serves as an ideological cover for institutional interests, especially those of the central state. We pursue our critique first through a review of political science and public finance approaches to tax politics, and then through a more in-depth discussion of examples of intergovernmental tax regimes. Our conclusion is an argument for the enhancement of the fiscal base of Japan's local authorities, due to the changing roles of the national and local states in the context of an increasingly borderless international economy.