State and local finances under pressure State and Local Finances under Pressure explores the future of state and local government fiscal systems given the numerous pressures they face from economic legal technological demographic and political forces. It explores how these multiple forces play out in terms of the changes state and local governments should and are likely to make 1. Introduction 2. The changing state local fiscal environment : a 25 Year retrospective 3. Changing times : demographic and economic changes and state and local government finances 4. Politics the courts and the economy : implications for the future of school financing 5. Popular processes and the transformation of state and local government finance 6. The federal governments impact on state and local government finances 7. Prospects and challenges for state and local government in a digital world 8. Deregulation of utilities : a challenge and an opportunity for state and local tax policy 9. Globalization and state local government finances 10. Urban sprawl and the finances of state and local governments