Whitney Afonso
Whitney Afonso is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Government. Whitney’s research focuses on state and local public finance with an emphasis on local sales taxes. Whitney won the Burkhead Award for best manuscript published in Public Budgeting and Finance in 2015 and the Curro Award for best student paper in 2010. She also has served on the executive committee of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management since 2018. In addition to her traditional research and teaching, her position at UNC engages her with elected officials and practitioners within the state. She is the liaison for the North Carolina Local Government Budget Association. Whitney received her bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University, completed a master's program at Texas A&M University, and received her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.
Selected Publications
Afonso, Whitney B., 2019. “The Barriers Created by Complexity: A State-by-State Analysis of Local Sales Tax Laws in Light of the Wayfair Ruling,” National Tax Journal, National Tax Association; National Tax Journal, vol. 72(4), pages 777-800, December.
Afonso, W.B. (2019), “The Impact of the Amazon Tax on Local Sales Tax Revenue in Urban and Rural Jurisdictions.” Public Budgeting & Finance, 39: 68-90.
Spreen TL, Afonso W, Gerrish E. “Can Employee Training Influence Local Fiscal Outcomes?” The American Review of Public Administration. 2020;50(4-5):401-414.
Nelson, K.L. and Afonso, W.B. (2019), “Ethics by Design: The Impact of Form of Government on Municipal Corruption.” Public Admin Review, 79: 591-600.
“Citizens Engaging Government: The Case of Participatory Budgeting in Greensboro” 2017. Public Administration Quarterly 41(1): 7-42.
“Time to Adoption of Local Option Sales Taxes: An Examination of Texas Municipalities.” 2016. Public Finance Review. DOI: 10.1177/1091142116673147
“The Effect of Connecticut’s Income Tax Adoption on Migration.” 2016. Journal of Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X16000234
“The Equity of Local Sales Tax Distributions in Urban, Suburban, Rural, and Tourism-Rich Counties in North Carolina.” 2016. Public Finance Review 44(6): 691-721.
“Leviathan or Flypaper: Earmarked Local Sales Taxes for Transportation.” 2015. Public Budgeting & Finance 35(3): 1-23.[1]
“State Income Taxes and Military Service Members’ Legal Residency Choices.” 2015. Contemporary Economic Policy 33(2): 334-350.
“Fiscal Illusion in State and Local Finances: A Hindrance to Transparency.” 2014. State and Local Government Review 46(3): 219-228.
“Local Sales Taxes as a Means of Increasing Revenues and Reducing Property Tax Burdens: An Analysis Using Propensity Score Matching.” 2014. Public Budgeting & Finance 34(2): 24-43.
