In the first section of this study, arguments for and against reward for local effort are presented along with brief summaries of some previous empirical studies on the subject. The second and third sections describe the methodology and the findings of a new empirical study that investigated the determinates of tax rate change in Illinois before the 1973 reform and after it. The study examines the impact of several socioeconomic variables--wealth, income level of residents, education level of residents, occupation of residents, percentage of population living in urban areas, percentage of nonwhite population, percentage of population between ages six and eighteen, percentage of owner-occupied housing, and existing operating tax rate--on changes in tax rates before and after the reform. Three empirical models were constructed for the research--the socioeconomic linear model, the socioeconomic interaction model, and the fiscal response model. Among the findings were that the amount of tax rate increase was lower after reform and that low income and low assessed valuation districts increased their tax rate by a smaller amount than the overall average. Numerous tables are included. (Author/IRT)