Catalyst for Cities
Douglas, Paul H.
Catalyst for Cities Revenue-Sharing. Crutch or Catalyst for State and Local Governments? by Congressman Henry S. Reuss. Foreword by Hubert H. Humphrey. Praeger. 170 pp. $6.50. Reviewed by Paul H....
...The 228 standard metropolitan areas of the country contain some 20,000 local governments...
...He suggests that revenue amounting to five to ten billions of dollars be allocated annually to the states during a three year period, provided that with good faith the beneficiaries agree to draw up plans for regional reconstruction, state improvement, and local government reform...
...Instead, Representative Reuss proposes that revenue-sharing be used as a catalyst to induce the multitudinous local governments to cooperate...
...This last proposal serves several purposes...
...Even with the increase in suburbia and the encouragement given by this plan, the number of such jurisdictions would probably not reach 1,000...
...Whatever the future, Henry Reuss has made a great contribution...
...We certainly should not turn them adrift as we did after 1875...
...Yet the greatest shortage of funds is, and will continue to be, in the cities, where the sources of revenue are least...
...The question remains as to whether the various state governments can be trusted to deal fairly and humanely with their Negro, Puerto Rican, Indian, and Mexican minorities...
...This is a fascinating proposal, one that offers hope of genuine improvement in state and local government...
...Perhaps too the new spirit evinced in such states as Virginia may help in this transformation...
...At the start the existing systems of Federal grants-in-aid would continue in their present form, but obviously Reuss hopes that they will gradually be transformed into general grants...
...There are 81,000 local units, with their powers fragmented, personnel largely untrained, and operating with great waste...
...This issue will become increasingly pressing as the expenditures in Vietnam decrease and the gross national product (GNP) increases...
...It would encourage a reduction in local units, thus improving administrative efficiency and making the Federal system more manageable...
...In 1960 there were only 717 urban and county governments with a population of more than 50,000...
...It would give aid to the cities, where the need is greatest and generally discounted by rural and suburban governments...
...After considering all aspects of a subject in a spirit of fairness, he comes up with recommendations both practical and in the public interest...
...With peace, there should be much more Federal money available...
...Manageable it cannot be when working through the present tens of thousands of local governments...
...The grant would then be doubled on a per capita base when the population of a local unit exceeded 100,000...
...If the Congress and the people will study this book, revenue-sharing can become a catalyst, not a crutch...
...There are enormous needs in such fields as education, police, health, housing, welfare, but such needs could best be cared for locally, thus avoiding a cumbersome and overcentralized national administrative system...
...Merely to provide money without change, would be to give them a financial crutch and no adequate solution...
...In Revenue-Sharing, the Wisconsin Democrat turns his attention to proposals that the Federal Government should share some of its revenue with the states and local governments...
...At least one of the present difficulties would be solved by adopting a suggestion first made by Allen Manvel and sponsored by the National Commission on Urban Problems, of which I was chairman...
...At the end of the trial period an impartial commission, together with Congress, would decide whether the aid, in the form of block grants, should be continued or modified...
...Reviewed by Paul H. Douglas Henry Reuss has the deserved reputation of being one of the most thoughtful and scholarly members of Congress...
...He has specialized in issues that are not only important, but complicated and dimly understood even by the so-called intelligensia...
...Although the case for revenue-sharing is strong, the structure of local government is abnormally weak...
...Perhaps this situation can be treated in the first declaration of goals issued by the states...
...This is a "manageable" number...
...Under this plan, which Congressman Reuss endorses, payments would be made directly to local governments with more than 50,000 population, as well as to the state governments...
...Previously he has done this in studies of foreign trade, foreign aid, and the gold exchange standard...
...Federal revenues, based as they are on individual and corporate income taxes, will grow faster than the GNP because of the progressive scale of the rates...
Vol. 34 • March 1970 • No. 3
