TY  - JOUR
AU  - Wallis,John Joseph
TI  - The Property Tax as a Coordinating Device: Financing Indiana's Mammoth Internal Improvement System, 1835 to 1842
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Historical Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 136
PY  - 2001
Y2  - November 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/h0136
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/h0136.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
John J. Wallis
Department of Economics
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Tel: 301/405-3552
Fax: 301/405-3542
E-Mail: wallis@econ.umd.edu
AB  - The state of Indiana set out to build a Mammoth system of canals, railroads, and turnpikes in 1836, after a decade of intense debate in which sectional rivalries prevented any state action. This paper investigates the role played by the adoption of an ad valorem property tax in ameliorating the sectional rivalries and coordinating the costs of financing the transportation system with the taxes levied to finance it.  It also traces the rise and fall of land values in the state between 1835 and 1842, estimating the effect of internal improvement projects on land values.
ER  -