There isn´t general consensus concerning the tools for evaluating of decentralization and public administration reforms. Comparison of impacts and tools for the evaluation of decentralization process is complicated mainly by a different arrangement of public administration, researching only partial aspects of decentralization or lack of key data. The aim of this paper is to legitimize the innovative approach of evaluation of the decentralization reforms through an analysis of subnational units´ staff. This consideration is based on correlation which suggests that countries with a higher degree of autonomy of subnational units usually have a wider bureaucratic apparatus of self-governments. In this context we answer whether the evaluation of Czech decentralization is relevant through an analysis of self-governmental staff and under which methodological preconditions. We worked with fragmented statistical unique and unpublished primary data about the self-governmental staff obtained from registers of the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance and the Czech Statistical Office.
In India, the urban local bodies do not have decentralization in various functions. Therefore, municipal corporations find various issues in functioning and revenue generation. It has resulted into either shortfall or low quality infrastructure services to people. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation is developed as modern municipal corporation. Municipal corporation invested financial resources in development for civic infrastructure. Therefore, population, industries, educational institutions, markets, transport and other facilities are expanding very fast. The ordinary least square regression results shows that the municipal corporation has positive co-relation with revenue receipts from LBT, property tax and town planning. The revenue expenditure is positively co-related with municipal estate, public health and hospitals, primary and secondary education. The engineering work for poor is negatively correlated with revenue expenditure. The capital receipts are positively co-related with fire brigade, auditorium, sports and cultural programs and security deposits and water supply. The capital expenditure is positively co-related to women and child welfare schemes, primary education, environment monitoring. It is negatively co-related with dumping grounds. The municipal corporation must raise funds from capital market through municipal bonds. More investment must be made in civic infrastructure. Similarly, corporation must spend more funds on poor, welfare of women and children. Municipal corporation must monitor and protect environment. It must give more priorities for processing of solid and e-waste, protect local culture, primary and secondary education, health care for all and technology in provision of civic services. It must develop human resource and create best place to live in metropolitan region.
The implementation of fiscal decentralization in Slovakia in 2005 should have improved the financing of lower levels of government in terms of fortifying their financial autonomy, bringing the local authorities closer to citizens, etc. Indeed, the immediate period after the implementation brought excellent results, maybe thanks to the persistence of the economic expansion. However, the optimistic prospects of municipal and regional authorities were destroyed by the arrival of the financial crisis. Certain alleviation came in the period of the economic recovery. In this paper the structure of municipal revenues in the period of 2000–2017 is analysed with an emphasis on a system change presented by fiscal decentralization. An increasing trend in the municipal total revenues per capita can be observed in the monitored period. Simultaneously, as expected, results show certain principal changes in their structure which are linked to the public finance reform. Additionally, they were later affected by the financial crisis. What is important is the increase of the municipal tax revenues after 2005 with disturbance of the trend during the financial crisis. The eligible increase of received grants in the period of 2000–2004 was followed by a slight decrease after 2005, but worsening of the economic conditions in the period of 2009–2013 again required its dramatic increase. Municipal non-tax revenues seem to be resistant to economic development in Slovakia.
FinTech and blockchain: directions of development of digital economy: The paper looks at the selected issues connected with the digital economy, namely innovations such as FinTech and blockchain, as a possible direction of its development. First, the author discusses FinTech, a technology that aims to compete with traditional methods of delivery of financial services. Next, he raises the question of blockchain that records and maintains transactions made in cryptocurrency in a peer-to-peer network. The relevant definitions, key areas, regulatory framework, benefits and challenges related to both innovations are also presented.
At the present stage in the context of the reforms in the tax administration system, the issues of tax control management and improvement of registration procedures are relevant. Tax revenues account for the largest share of other methods of centralizing budget resources. Therefore, increasing tax revenues is especially relevant for financing budgets, including local ones. The purpose of the paper is to study controversial issues of tax control in the field of taxpayer accounting in order to find opportunities to increase tax revenues, primarily by making it impossible to carry out unregistered economic activity. The object of the study is the process of taxpayer accounting. The main tasks are: 1) to emphasize the importance of accounting and registration procedures in ensuring sustainable budgetary revenues; 2) to determine the specific features of accounting for different categories of taxpayers and outline the basic requirements for its organization in the tax authorities; 3) to track the dynamics of the number of taxpayers; 4) to propose directions for the improvement of the accounting and registration work of the State Tax Service authorities. In the course of the study, the following methods were used: abstract-logical, analysis and synthesis, benchmarking and structural-functional analysis, statistical-economic and graphic methods. It is substantiated that it is essential to working through the procedures of taxpayer accounting in order to ensure effective control over the correctness of calculation completeness and timeliness of making tax payments. The mechanism of taxation of different categories of entities on a one contact principle and on general grounds is considered. The emphasis is placed on the lack of coherence of actions of the state registration and tax authorities at the stage of registration of the entities, insufficient scope of authority of the controlling bodies and the lack of a single complete database on taxpayers. The dynamics of the number of different taxpayer categories is highlighted, the necessity to improve the method of their accounting is explained; and the income from unregistered economic activity in Ukraine is calculated with the method of ‘population expenditures – retail trade’. Ways to improve tax control in order to ensure the completeness and timeliness of taxes and fees are proposed. The prospects for further research are related to the investigation into controversial issues of tax policy and activities of tax authorities, as well as the improvement of tax control for the effective use of its fiscal regulatory capacity.
Milan Rapajić, Milivoje Lapčević, Violeta Miladinović
Since the introduction of property taxation in Serbian legislation, the tax system has been the subject of reforms a number of times for the purpose of its harmonization it with European Union standards. Initial changes were almost unnoticiable, while the latest modifications in the law attracted considerable interest of the tax policy creators, financial experts, as well as the taxpayers themselves because they introduced a new method of determining the tax basis which has increased the overall tax liabilities at annual level. Bearing in mind that the property tax generates local revenue and that local governments are in constant need for additional resources, the methodology of determining the tax liability should be based on the principle of equity and equality in order to ensure an ultimately efficient tax collection. In this paper, the authors will attempt to analyze both positive and negative aspects of improving the property tax system through a number of years, as well as to propose some solutions for the future reform of this system. By means of fiscal decentralization, this revenue plays an important role in financing local expenditure, while its abundance directly secures a larger autonomy of local self-government units, making them less dependable on the funds coming from the state budget.
The reform of the public administration, which took place in the conditions of the Slovak Republic, aimed to reduce the dependence of the subjects of territorial self-government on the state. Despite changes in the local and regional funding system, this aim has not been met in full. The state contributes to municipalities not only to carry over the transferred competences, but also for their individual needs. The aim of the paper is to evaluate relations of state budget with the local self-government budgets in the condition of the Slovak Republic in the period 2001-2017. The basis for the analysis were cumulative data for municipalities in the Slovak Republic reported by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic as part of the results of budget management of cities and municipalities. The analysis revealed the fact that in the comparison of 2001 and 2017, the volume of financial resources received by municipalities from the state budget in the form of special-purpose subsidies increased and they are primarily linked to the transferred competences of municipalities. Despite the fiscal decentralization, municipalities in the Slovak Republic depend on the state budget not only within the tax incomes but also for subsidies.
The ongoing processes of decentralization, which are present in many countries, cause a growing proportion of public funds to be collected and spent at the local government tier, which necessitates the use of fiscal rules not only at the state level. This issue may raise some controversy due to the specific character, autonomy and empowerment of local government and local communities. Therefore, the analysed subject is based on three questions: 1. Limited fiscal autonomy of local self-government and it's consequences 2. A real need for and the scope of the use of fiscal rules in local government finance, 3. The informal factors that directly determine the indebtedness in local governments in the light of literature and selected empirical research. We use a descriptive method supported by an analysis of financial data and a case study as it presents selected aspects of Polish experience in the subject matter. The results of the analysis seem to point to the necessity of the use of fiscal rules in local government finance, which paradoxically strengthens the processes of decentralization, democratization, technological advancement and globalization. Some primary results of our research indicate investment expenditure, own revenues, number of companies (level of GDP) and election cycle as important, significant factors (in statistical meaning) effecting the local deficit and debt. The conclusions list the advantages of the use of fiscal rules at the local government tier and large diversity of informal conditions across the whole country.
The aim of this article is to assess the importance of user charges as a source of revenues in state and local government and factors that impact a volume of these revenues. In order to carry out the research it has been assumed that volume of revenues from fees and user charges are dependent on fi scal decentralization, are positively affected public expenditure and depend on the wealth of a society. Two models-for the whole public sector and for state and local government has been designed. Using a panel of 26 selected OECD countries in period 1995-2016 it has been proved that decentralization is a signifi cant factor only in case of fees and user charges in whole public sector but not signifi cant in decentralized model. As expected fees and user charges positively depend on volume of expenditures in both models and additionally negatively depends on tax burden.
The purpose of the article is to study the theoretical foundations of decentralization, to analyze the indicators of the efficiency of cash management and to identify problems that have arisen as a result of the reform of intergovernmental fiscal relations. The article deals with problems of functioning of local budgets and regulation of intergovernmental fiscal relations under conditions of budget decentralization. The main directions of the budget policy introducing a new mechanism of budget regulation and equalization have been described. Suggestions for the functioning of local finance have been provided. The problems of intergovernmental financing have been identified and ways of their solution have been proposed. It has been noted that as a result of the decentralization process, the mechanism of the use of monetary resources has changed, therefore, an analysis of the efficiency of budget filling and rational use of budget funds is necessary to assess the actual state of affairs. The object of the study was the united territorial communities of Ukraine and their structure on subsidization in the conditions of modern reforms. On January 1, 2019, 876 OTGs were created in Ukraine as a result of the association of 4010 territorial communities (36.6% of all territorial communities), which covers 37.6% of the country’s territory. Elements of scientific novelty are developed criteria, which are isolated according to the results of the research: the basic grant should contribute to the fiscal capacity of local budgets; the amount of transfers must correspond to the financial security of the macroeconomic financial stability of the region and promote its economic growth; the system of intergovernmental transfers should stimulate local authorities to form their own revenues in local budgets; the transfer system should provide coverage of vertical and horizontal imbalances. It has been determined that the basis of intergovernmental relations should be the volume of transfer payments to certain territorial units, which should take into account such indicators as real incomes and the amount of substantiated expenditures. It has been concluded that the system of intergovernmental transfers should stimulate local authorities to form their own revenues in local budgets. Further research will be aimed at deepening the analysis of the impact of decentralization on the incomes and expenditures of territorial communities in the Transcarpathian region
Decentralized finance has evolved as a major contender for traditional banking systems over the last few years. Evolution in blockchain and cryptography technologies are the driving forces for decentralized finance’s growth. The emergence of Bitcoin in the finance system was a major driving force toward the tremendous growth of decentralized finance. However, with various platforms merging every day, the decentralized finance sector is still in its early, unorganized stages. The current decentralized finance market is chaotic. With a new “coin” being introduced almost every month, standardization is highly lacking in the system. DeFi already has several different applications available. For instance, one can purchase stable coins, or assets pegged to a national currency, on decentralized exchanges, move the assets to a lending platform that is also decentralized to earn interest, and then add the interest-earning instruments to a decentralized liquidity pool or an on-chain investment fund. DeFi enterprises frequently aim at decentralized decision-making, or governance, in everything from the user fees to the products they provide. A decentralized program may be started by one person or a small number of individuals, but as the project gathers traction, its leaders frequently try to step down and cede control to the user base. A decentralized autonomous organization that has its rules and regulations written into computer code and that may issue governance tokens, which allow its holders a voice in decisions rather than allowing the decision-making to a centralized government authority as in case of traditional finance, could represent this transition. While on one side, world governments are still trying to grasp and regulate the sector, on the other side, the technology’s reach has been very limited. Undoubtedly, the emergence of blockchain-based decentralized finance is massively influencing our current finance technology industry. In this chapter, we discuss the current growth in the FinTech industry and the blockchain-based decentralized finance sector. Furthermore, we discuss how decentralized finance can be used in the current FinTech industry.
Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu przybliżenie istoty bitcoin oraz jest próbą odpowiedzi na pytanie, jaką rolę elektroniczna moneta odegra na globalnym rynku finansowym w przyszłości. W pierwszej kolejności w artykule przedstawiono dwa sposoby definiowania bitcoin oraz mechanizm emisji tej monety i obrotu w Internecie. Na tej podstawie wyodrębniono zalety i wady elektronicznej monety w kolejności ich ważności. Następnie zaprezentowano dotychczasową genezę rynku bitcoin, co pozwoliło na zidentyfikowanie i uszeregowanie determinant jego rozwoju. Wśród nich za najistotniejsze uznano ograniczoną podaż bitcoin i rosnący nań popyt, pogłębianie się globalnego kryzysu zadłużeniowego, stopniowe wprowadzanie przejrzystych regulacji prawnych, utrzymanie wiarygodności dotyczącej emisji monet oraz rosnącą akceptację tej formy płatności przez użytkowników Internetu. Na koniec rozważań o bitcoin przedstawiono możliwe zastrzeżenia zgłaszane przez biernych obserwatorów rynku, które wciąż pozostają bez jednoznacznej odpowiedzi. W podsumowaniu przyjęto stanowisko pośrednie, nadające bitcoin status nowatorskiego wynalazku, który dzięki swojej hybrydowej naturze może być pierwszym krokiem do pieniądza przyszłości.
Since its independence the Republic of Croatia has commenced a thorough reconstruction of its taxation system according to the market economy taxation policy. Essential taxation reforms have brought the system closer to EU systems i.e. it has been being harmonized with taxation systems of developed European countries. The Republic of Croatia has adopted solutions that are used by the majority of European countries. Current tax system of the Republic of Croatia can be viewed through three fiscal levels, but this paper deals with decentralization and revenue, especially tax revenue of local and regional self-government units. The paper will present importance and a way of collecting revenue, especially tax revenue and satisfying public needs in terms of counties, cities and municipalities. The local and central characteristics of the certain types of taxes and the specialities thereof, as well as the applied functional differences are also scrutinized, and a widely accepted opinion of the taxpayers is explained. Taking these into account, the scientific contribution of this paper is that it provides a basis for further research on tax system development.
Dana Országhová, Radomíra Hornyák Gregáňová, Viera Papcunová
Changes in the socio-economic conditions of countries initiate modifications in the management of its economic and social processes, which are also followed by conversions in the public administration. At the same time, they are also looking for the concepts of rational organization and effective management of the public administration. The public administration of the Slovak Republic is created by local self-government and regional selfgovernment. Municipalities represent the local self-government bodies. The effective conditions of the municipalities are creating the effective setting of its financing. Until 2004 the financing of municipalities was determined annually by the state budget act and for the municipalities distributed from the state budget a share of the tax of personal income, which consisted of three taxes: tax of personal income, tax of the corporation income and road tax. In 2005 the fiscal decentralization took place in Slovakia as a part of the consolidation of public finances, resulting in a new way of financing municipalities. The basis of the new financing system of municipalities was to determine the tax of personal income as a single share tax, in particular, because the dynamics of the income of this tax was expected to grow even in the medium term. The objective of the paper is to evaluate changes and trends in the financial management of municipalities based on selected fiscal indicators within the period 1993 -2015.
Katalog współczesnych zagrożeń ekonomiczno-gospodarczych ewoluuje pod wpływem nowych zjawisk, jako skutek dynamicznego rozwoju technologii informacyjno--komunikacyjnych i poszerza się czyniąc go nieskończonym. Technologie wzbogaciły instrumenta-rium działań przestępczych i umożliwiły dokonywanie czynów zabronionych w cyberprzestrzeni. W kontekście zagrożeń postrzegane są wirtualne waluty. Artykuł poświęcono analizie zjawiska wirtu-alnych walut, by na tej podstawie sformułować przypuszczalne konsekwencje i najbardziej realne cele dla Polski, póki jest jeszcze czas, aby podjęte działania były skuteczne i zabezpieczały interesy państwa.
The paper is dedicated to the analysis the financing situation and level of decentralization in the municipalities in Poland and Turkey. The analysis covers years 2012–2016. Due to decentralisation reforms in both countries the basic level of subnational governments are municipalities. The decentralization process includes three categories: political, administrative, and fiscal. Because of above the municipalities in Poland and Turkey are various with the number of units, average municipal area, average municipality size, sources of the revenues and directions of money spending.
The institutional collapse of a once unique state SFR Yugoslavia at the beginning of the 1990s, devastated economy, hyperinflation, corruption and general tendencies contrary to the processes in developed countries, in a nutshell - the entire macroeconomic environment being unstable, - brought about the need for political, economic, social and institutional reforms in the Republic of Serbia. The reform, among other things, and for the study of the factual issues it is exceptionally significant, covered the system of resource distribution and jurisdiction between the central and subcentral levels of government. Numerous changes which then occurred in the last twenty years or so, and which are still going on, have influenced political and territorial polity of our country to become decentralized, as well as the financial and fiscal relations between the levels of the Establishment. In the spirit of reform commitments, Republic of Serbia brought in a new Constitution and adopted copious amounts of laws, whose ultimate intention was promoting the fiscal system that would be in accordance with the latest theoretical findings and examples of good practice. In the structure of territorial organization of Republic of Serbia, autonomous provinces as entities of territorial autonomy, and municipalities, towns and the city of Belgrade have been established, as entities of local self-governance. Otherwise, subcentral authority levels in our country are facing many and various challenges when it comes to creating government revenue which, in its original or transferred form, remains available, used to finance their government expenditure, a constant need for their abundance and suitability, and all in order to constitute financial autonomy, followed by methods of governing the economic development, as well as the volume and content of jurisdiction. \nConsidering the fact that the distribution of resources amongst sub-central levels of government is preceded by the distribution of responsibilities, associated is the dilemma of which functions are realized more efficiently on a central and which on a subcentral level of government, and further, to what extent these lower levels are to be subservient to the central state, that is, in what sense independent. In that matter, it is essential to establish the extent of the realized fiscal decentralization, since depending on that degree, fiscal power is delegated to subcentral levels, the performance of public services is more efficient and is in accordance with priorities and preferences of citizens, which is also a precondition of successful functioning of all the segments of the public sector and widespread democratization of a society.
In the Polish legal system, shares of local government units in state Personal Income Tax (PIT) falls into the category of the local government’s own revenues. Such assignment does not meet the basic attribute of the so-called decentralized taxes, which is the taxing power. The local authorities cannot affect the income tax revenue in this case, while at the same time they suffer financial consequences of amendments in the construction of this tax. In Poland, this issue, among other things, fueled a discussion on the need to reduce the dependence of local government units’ revenues on central tax decisions in the form of “local-governmentalization” of the Personal Income Tax and introduction of the so-called municipal (local) PIT. Not only does the article aim to present this concept, but also to identify potential advantages and risks connected with the possible introduction of municipal PIT in the Polish system of local finance.
This article analyses aspects of public financial decentralization in Romania, enlightening major problems in public money allocation at county’s administrative level. Actual public finance law and state budget law allow inefficiency and inequity in local public money spending. This happens, in our point of view, because of many rules, criteria and computations missing economic fundamentals and which skip state’s principal objective: to insure citizens’ welfare by providing public goods and services. Our research finds which Romanian counties have difficulties to satisfy local public needs, by confronting financial decentralization level, economic development and public expenditures.
The current financial predicament of Local Government Councils and constant pressure for increase allocation has been in the front burner of Local Governments Administration in Nigeria. The focus of this paper therefore is an examination of Local Government Finance in Nigeria using Iwo Local Government as a Case Study. Data for the study were gathered from face-to-face interview, available records in Iwo Local Government, text books, lecture notes, journals, reports, seminar presentation and internet materials. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics (simple percentage) and content analysis. The study explored various sources of financing local governments in Nigeria. It also explained financial relationship of Nigerian local government vis-a-vis State and Federal Government using theory of decentralization. The study went further to explain financial management in Iwo L.G. Result obtained from the analysis shows that financial transfers from federal government (Statutory Federal Allocation) are the most viable and reliable source of local government revenue and that without Federal Allocation no capital project can be embarked on. Therefore, to arrest this financial situation that local government find itself, that is over dependence on federal allocation, this work submitted that local government should increase their revenue base by laying more emphasis on the internal revenue sources, especially those areas that are hitherto neglected or not been fully exploited. Keywords: Local Government, Administration, Finance, Decentralization, Nigeria, Iwo
Recent years have witnessed the emergence of digital currencies - digital representations of value which are transferred using IT technologies and used as a medium of exchange but are not recognised as official means of payment. Bitcoins are one of such currencies and their popularity in Europe and in Poland has been growing. Hence it is a good time to consider to what extent Polish law is prepared to face the phenomenon and what potential problems may arise from it for the judicial system. The main objective of the paper is to analyse Polish tax regulations in the context of bitcoin transactions, as broadly understood.
Proces globalizacji i rewolucji informacyjnej to zjawiska, które determinują rzeczywistość społeczno-gospodarczą współczesnego świata. Znalazły one praktyczne odzwierciedlenie w funkcjonowaniu systemów pieniężnych w globalnej gospodarce światowej, przede wszystkim w nowej postaci cyberwaluty, jaką jest bitcoin. Przedmiotem artykułu są przesłanki powstania, istota, zasady i sposób działania bitcoina. Jego cechy oraz coraz szerszy zakres funkcjonowania tej cyberwaluty mogą w przyszłości zagrażać bezpieczeństwu w wymiarze społecznym, gospodarczym i międzynarodowym.