Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Problem with Maryland's Wealth Formulas

Most state aid in Maryland is driven by wealth formulas that direct more aid per capita to “poorer” jurisdictions and less to “wealthy” jurisdictions, thereby effecting significant income transfers. But the wealth formulas used by the state have a critical flaw: they are absolutely unrelated to poverty.Almost all state aid is distributed in one of four ways. First, it can be distributed on the