Did Fire, Police, and EMS Departments Take Advantage of the 9/11 Attacks to Get More Money?
18 Pages Posted: 15 Mar 2018
Date Written: March 12, 2018
Abstract
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 increased U.S. patriotism, but did they affect voting behavior? Did fire, police, and EMS departments sense an opportunity to increase their funding after the highly-publicized rescue efforts? We find no evidence of more frequently proposed tax levies as a result of 9/11. However, we find that fire and police departments asked for 25% and 39% larger tax levies. Support for police levies was essentially unchanged, and voters decreased their support for fire levies by only 1.3 percentage points. We find no change in size of or support for EMS, recreation, or road levies.
Keywords: terrorism, public taxation, voting behavior, public goods, Leviathan
JEL Classification: D72, H71, H41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation