Whitney Afonso is a Professor at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently holds a term professorship. She was recently awarded the Diversity Impact Award for her work on examining Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) uptake differentials in communities of color and rural communities.
Whitney was a member of the Executive Committee for the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM) from 2018-2023. Whitney and her co-author, Kim Nelson, were awarded the 2025 ASPA Section on Public Administration Research Best Book Award for Municipal Corruption. Whitney and her co-authors were awarded the award for best Field Note published in 2024 in State and Local Government Review for their work on local sales taxes. Whitney was awarded the Jesse Burkhead Award for best article published in Public Budgeting & Finance in 2015. Whitney is on the editorial board of Public Budgeting & Finance, Journal of Public Administration and Theory, Public Administration Review, and State and Local Government Review.
Whitney teaches within the Carolina MPA program as well as working with local practitioners across the state of North Carolina. Her work focuses on state and local tax policy with an emphasis on local sales taxes. Whitney is also an Academic Fellow at the Kenan Institute’s Tax Center.
In her engaged scholarship and work with practitioners she runs a week long course for budget practitioners, Budgeting in Local Government. In that role she co-manages the Death & Taxes blog. She also published a textbook for budget practitioners at the local level titled “Budgeting in North Carolina Local Governments” that is currently in its second edition. Whitney also developed a state level certification program for budget professionals. It launched in Spring of 2024.
Examples of recent work:
“Hot Town, Corruption in the City: Assessing the Impact of Form of Government on Corruption Using Propensity Scores” with Kim Nelson. Public Administration Review 85(1): 73-92. (Article)
“More than a Wink and a Nudge: Examining the Choice Architecture of Online Government Budget Simulations” with Zachary Mohr. Forthcoming. Behavioural Public Policy. (Article)
“Local Sales Tax Exportation: The Impact of Commuters, Tourists, and College Students on the Tax Base” with Jeremy Moulton. 2024. Public Budgeting & Finance 44(1): 38-59. (Article)
“Budget Starting Position Matters: A “Field-in-Lab” Experiment Testing Simulation Engagement and Budgetary Preferences” with Zachary Mohr. 2024. Public Budgeting & Finance 44(1): 60-80. (Article)
“Plugging the Tax Leak: An Analysis of North Carolina’s Local Sales Tax Redistribution Policy” with Alex Combs and Christian Buerger. 2024. State and Local Government Review 56(1): 76-90. (Article)