The effects on population health status of using dedicated property taxes to fund local public health agencies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In the United States, a dedicated property tax describes the legal authority given to a local jurisdiction to levy and collect a tax for a specific purpose. We investigated for an association of locally dedicated property taxes to fund local public health agencies and improved health status in the eight states designated as the Mississippi Delta Region.

Methods

We analyzed the difference in health outcomes of counties with and without a dedicated public health tax after adjusting for a set of control variables using regression models for county level data from 720 counties of the Mississippi Delta Region.

Results

Levying a dedicated public health tax for counties with per capita income above $28,000 is associated with improved health outcomes of those count

SUBMITTER: Honore PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3141454 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature