Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/18720 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 1357
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
The idea of fiscal decentralisation has become increasingly fashionable world-wide. But every country has unique features of the intergovernmental fiscal system. In general municipal expenditures are rapidly growing in European countries. On the other hand local tax increases are not easily enforceable at present, whereas the local fiscal autonomy is unlikely to be guaranteed as long as municipalities are strongly dependent on down-flow grants. In such a fiscal-stress situation an improvement of local fiscal capacity can be achieved from the increase of fees. Four European countries were chosen to survey the recent development of municipal finance: Britain, Germany, Poland and Switzerland. This paper firstly identifies and highlights the similarities and differences in municipal finance in an international context. Secondly it theoretically examines the possibility of enhancing fiscal autonomy of local governments through determining optimal fee level which leads to an increase of revenues from this revenue item.
Subjects: 
fiscal decentralisation
local expenditures and taxes
fees
shared taxes
intergovernmental transfers
municipal borrowings
Poland
Britain
JEL: 
H7
H6
H8
H4
H2
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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