Call for Papers

Sales Taxation in a Changing Economy:

Policy Design, Administration, and Equity

Guest Editor: Sarah E. Larson

Taxation and revenue production was identified by academics as a leading concern of future public budgeting and finance research (McDonald et al, 2024). Within taxation and revenue production, the sales tax remains one of the most widely used revenue instruments for subnational governments in the United States, especially at the state and local level (Due & Mikesell, 1994). Traditionally valued for their administrative simplicity, sales taxes have become increasingly complex as economies shift toward services (Siegfried & Smith, 1991), digital transactions (Agrawal & Fox, 2021), and platform-based consumption. At the same time, concerns about equity (Afonso, 2016), volatility (Hou & Seligman, 2011), tax competition (Fletcher & Murray, 2006), and erosion (Propheter, 2015) of the tax base have intensified.

Sales taxes also sit at the intersection of economic development, intergovernmental relations, and social equity. Decisions regarding tax bases, exemptions, sourcing rules, and local option sales taxes can produce uneven impacts across communities, households, and regions. Moreover, reliance on sales taxation may interact with other revenue instruments, such as income, property, and excise taxes, in ways that either mitigate or exacerbate fiscal stress and inequality.

In this call, the Public Finance Journal seeks to advance theoretical, conceptual, and empirical research on sales taxation in contemporary public finance. We encourage submissions that deepen our understanding of how sales taxes operate in practice, how they shape fiscal capacity and governance, and how they affect taxpayers and communities.

Topics of Interest

We particularly encourage work addressing (but not limited to) the following themes:

  • Design and evolution of sales tax systems at the state and local level
  • Tax base erosion, service taxation, and digital economy challenges
  • Administrative capacity, compliance, and enforcement of sales taxes
  • Distributional and equity impacts of sales taxes across income, race, gender, and place
  • Local option sales taxes and interjurisdictional competition
  • Sales taxes as tools for economic development or fiscal recovery
  • Interaction of sales taxes with income, property, and excise taxes
  • Behavioral responses to sales tax rates, bases, and exemptions
  • Political economy of sales tax adoption and reform
  • Comparative and international perspectives on consumption taxation
  • Sales taxation during economic shocks, crises, or inflationary periods

All methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives are welcome. We especially encourage innovative empirical designs, interdisciplinary approaches, and work that bridges public finance theory and practice. Practitioners as co-authors are encouraged.

Submission Process

Symposium Timeline

Milestone

Date

Proposal Deadline

March 31, 2026

Manuscript Drafts Due

November 30, 2026

Final Manuscripts Due

March 30, 2027

Publication Date

October 1, 2027

 

Proposals should be no longer than 750 words and should clearly describe the paper’s research question, data, and methodology, and expected theoretical and/or practical contributions. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Authors of selected proposals will be invited to submit full manuscripts. Proposals should be submitted via email to [email protected]

Review and Publication

Each manuscript submitted to the symposium will be peer-reviewed and held to the same rigorous standards as all submissions to the Public Finance Journal. Final accepted manuscripts will be published in a special symposium issue.

For additional information about the Public Finance Journal and manuscript guidelines, please visit: http://www.publicfinance.org

Enquiries

Questions regarding the symposium and submission process may be directed to: [email protected]

References

Agrawal, D. R., & Fox, W. F. (2021). Taxing goods and services in a digital era. National Tax Journal, 74(1), 257–301.

Afonso, W. (2016). The equity of local sales tax distributions in urban, suburban, rural, and tourism rich counties in North Carolina. Public Finance Review, 44(6), 691–721.

Due, J. F., & Mikesell, J. L. (1994). Sales taxation: State and local structure and administration (2nd ed.). Urban Institute Press.

Fletcher, J. M., & Murray, M. N. (2006). Competition over the tax base in the state sales tax. Public Finance Review, 34(3), 258–281.

Hou, Y., & Seligman, J. S. (2011). Local sales tax and revenue volatility. Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, 29(1-3), 167–180.

McDonald, B., Larson, S., Maher, C., Kavanagh, S., Hunter, K., Goodman, C., … Zielke, N. (2024). Establishing an Agenda for Public Budgeting and Finance Research. Public Finance Journal, 1(1), 9–28. https://doi.org/10.59469/pfj.2024.15

Propheter, G. (2015). Political institutions and state sales tax base erosion. Statistics, Politics and Policy, 6(1-2), 1–17.

Siegfried, J. J., & Smith, P. A. (1991). The distributional effects of a sales tax on services. National Tax Journal, 44(1), 41–53.