From Social Equity Budgeting to Revenue Equity: Minority Leadership and Local Governments' Exploitative Revenues

ABSTRACT

Social equity budgeting has gained increasing attention, yet research has largely focused on expenditures while neglecting revenue equity. This study contributes to the literature by examining the relationships between minority population size and local governments' reliance on exploitative revenues, and whether minority political representation moderates this relationship. Drawing on racial threat and political representation theories, we analyze data from 66 Florida counties between 2011 and 2019. Results show that counties with larger minority populations rely more heavily on exploitative revenues, but this relationship diminishes when minority political representation increases. These findings highlight how minority leadership could moderate fiscal practices that disproportionately burden minority communities. More broadly, this study advances the framework of social equity budgeting by shifting the focus from expenditure allocation to revenue generation.