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Jeffrey Simpson

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Federal states are often hard for citizens/taxpayers to figure out. They ask themselves: Which level of government is responsible for what? Which is taxing me, and for what? To whom do I complain, or whom do I praise?

Ask any national or regional elected official. She or he gets these questions a lot. And often rightly so. Experts and practitioners of federalism have time to plumb the depth of its complications, and lawyers always enjoy federal systems because federal constitutions are legal documents to be argued over by lawyers and often interpreted by courts. Garden-variety citizens have better things to do than study federalism’s complexities.