engleski

Analysis of Fiscal and Tax Autonomy of Local government units in selected EU-13 Member States

State and local governments in European Union member states have access to a large number of fiscal resources. The design of fiscal autonomy affects sub-central government’s potential and determines outcomes of local government efficiency and equity in access to public services or the long term fiscal stance. The increased spending responsibilities and the limited self-financing power of the local government units in most of the countries raise the question of the degree of their dependence on the central government. This is why authors find important to measure and assess the degree of tax autonomy of local governments in selected EU-13 member states by means of a set of indicators followed by the OECD classification of tax revenues for the last 10 years (2007-2016) and to determine one of the effects of fiscal decentralization – local self-government’s tax autonomy. In this paper authors analyse which countries have less centralized collection of tax revenues and collected local revenues in the mentioned period. The goal of the paper is to assess the level of and differences in fiscal and tax autonomy and to employ comparative research from selected EU-13 member states where there are similar tendencies and processes in regards to fiscal decentralization.The rich literature on fiscal federalism and fiscal decentralization has provided us with general guidelines whichgives us a starting point when we think about the responsibilities of local government units and the fiscalautonomy they have. However, when we are analysing country practices, the difference between country experience and theory appears to be significant. In sum, the results show that along with transfers from central government, taxes are still the most significant revenue source for local government units but that only a small part is under effective control of local government units.

EU-13 ; fiscal decentralization ; local government ; tax autonomy

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