Reflections on Taxpayers' Revolt

Abstract

Two overriding facts concerning the taxpayers' revolt deserve serious attention: (1) the fact that its thrust and momentum continue in California, where it originated, but are no longer confined to it; and (2) the fact that the revolt is being carried forward not against government in a generic sense as much as it is against a set of particular institutions collectively called "public administration." Charges of waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in government-which constitute a large part of the litany of the supporters of the tax revolt-acquire meaning and relevance almost exclusively to public administration. The purposes of this article are to make explicit the underlying ideological premises on which the taxpayers' revolt-and, by inference, the attack on public administration-is based and to evaluate the validity of those premises.