This study uses a panel of 724 US cities with populations of at least 25,000 in 1970 for a thirty-seven-year period from 1970 to 2006. The longer time frame used in this study allows us to capture the effects of TELs before, during, and after the ‘‘tax revolts’’ of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The 2006 data are the most recent data available at the time of analysis. Data were collected from a variety of sources. Specifically, financial data were collected from the Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Local Government Finances and Census of Government (1970–2006), social–economic data came from the Census Bureau’s County and City Data Books (seven series between 1972 and 2007) and American Community Survey (2005–2007 three-year estimate), and data on TELs were based on the ACIR’s (1995) report and Mullins and Wallin’s (2004) article.