The alleged undue influence of interest groups used to be and is one of the most critical problems in campaign and party financing in the United States and the Federal Republic. This chapter focuses on some issues which are debated vigorously in the United States and Germany. The party finance scandals in Germany have been about tax evasion, fraud, and in a very few instances corruption; they were not about illegally high amounts of donations. Corporate as well as union contributions are much more decentralized in the US than in Germany, paralleling the decentralized structure of American interest groups. In Germany public funding has been largely a reaction to increasing campaign costs. The party leadership in Germany should be made more accountable to the membership in financial matters. In both countries there is considerable suspicion that both candidates and parties depend financially on interest groups.
In its jurisprudence the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has changed its approach towards the purely internal situation rule applicable in the context of the market freedoms. From the 1990s onwards the Court has showed a greater leniency in accepting that certain cases fall within the scope of Union law, as compared to in the years before. This has been done in various ways, depending on the specific fundamental freedom at stake in the case, but always resulted in a relaxing of the fulfilment of the test used for determining whether a case falls within the scope of a market freedom - the linking factor test. More specifically, the Court seems to be accepting that hypothetical future scenarios are sufficient to bring a case within the scope of EU law even though the underlying facts of the case do not satisfy the test, or even to rule in cases which clearly do not fulfil some of the conditions of the test. The overall change of approach towards the purely internal rule can also be seen in an issue of jurisdiction, and not scope, which is still however relevant. This is the fact that the Court has begun issuing preliminary reference rulings in purely internal cases whereby the question referred is in reality hypothetical. It will be claimed that the CJEU does so without requiring sufficient proof by the domestic court that an EU law interpretation is required.
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 paper aims to analyze the principle of differentiation which, under the processes of federalism, identifies a relation of “adaequatio rei et iuris” chosen to allow policies linked on specific local situations. It is worth examining this perspective because the method used to differentiate autonomy, which dates back to the times when Italian Constitution was born, already including special status regions, is currently achieving a growing popularity. In particular, the discussion analyzes the broad doctrinal debate, in both its classical and recent forms, concerning regionalism and federalism, and the theoretical debate on the great principles of equality and autonomy; of uniformity and differentiation. Furthermore, it analyzes in-depth the laws enacted at both state and regional level, the identification of the Best Practices and the constitutional law steps taken in this regard (first part). In the following, the recent experiences of several European countries are taken into account, using the same comparative method: the German, Spanish and Scottish systems of differentiation are analyzed for their many analogies, which can be presented as a step needed for the development of the orientation of the Italian system (second part). The paper then examines the peculiar specialties which have always been in the Italian Constitution in order to verify if, even following the European integration process, the reasons and justifications of the historical specialties still exist (third part). We will show which legislative actions were made with regard to this, as well as the interpretation of the Constitutional Court and the main doctrinal acquisitions achieved during the scientific debate. More specifically, the first part aims to assess, in the first chapter, the constitutional principle of differentiation within the Italian legal system, by considering the theoretical and doctrinal development that accompanied Italian regionalism, and by improving this principle, starting from the of Law no. 142 of the year 1990, up to Bassanini reform. In this context, it is possible to perform an assessment of the third decentralization, which dates over fifteen years ago, by analyzing the tangible situations that have been implemented in the Italian Regions. The discussion then focuses on the origin of Article 116, paragraph III, of the Constitution as changed by Article 2 of the Constitutional Law of October 18, 2001, no. 3, which amended the whole Title V. Methodologically, we decided to illustrate the procedures and limitations with regard to the creation of the differentiation law, as well as the reasons why Article 116, paragraph III, of the Constitution was not implemented, to then analyze the possible areas in which the principle of differentiation could be developed, even in the light of the draft of the Constitutional Law A.C. 2613. The Second part, which is divided into four chapters, depicts the principle of regional differentiation in the European framework. Chapter one specifically focuses on the German federal system, or the so-called Föderalismusreform I – II, which was approved between 2006 and 2009, as a model that is able to effectively combine the flexibility required for continuous development with the rigidity needed to ensure gradual changes in the system. Chapter two covers the evolution of the territorial organization system included in the Spanish Constitution, from 1978 to date, with particular attention to the final result of the differentiated regionalism process by evaluating it both in terms of the doctrinal comments and tangible results. Chapter three focuses on the latest developments concerning Spanish Law and especially on the so-called "Catalan issue" and its statutory events. About this, the research started with an in-depth analysis of the organic law of July 19, 2006, no. 6, before later highlighting the effects of the Constitutional Court ruling (STC 31/2010) of June 28, 2010. Therefore, the composite events that then led to the suspension of the referendum for the independence of Catalonia, as a result of the appeal of the Constitutional Court requested by the Spanish Government, were analyzed. In order to complete the analysis of the differentiation processes, chapter four covers the most recent developments of the nation-building process that occurred in Scotland, whose legislative development and doctrinal issues were studied in-depth. The third part of our research is divided into six chapters and specifically analyzes the only structural differentiation in our country: the one affecting the special status Regions, in order to highlight the main elements of differentiation, both amongst themselves and by comparing them to the other ordinary autonomies. In particular, chapter one contains an in-depth analysis of differentiation within the special status Italian regions. The beginning of the dissertation consists of preparatory works within the Constituent Assembly. After describing the main positions developed in the Italian doctrinal context, some remarks are made on the current status of existence of the special autonomy, even by considering to what extent the financial privileges of some of these special regions can be justified. Chapter two concerns the specialty given to Valle d’Aosta region since a changing process of incremental nature characterizes it. The historical grounds of the specialty are specified by focusing on autonomy in terms of legislation and administration and by describing the structure of the financial autonomy that exists in the region. Chapter three focuses on the autonomy of Friuli Venezia Giulia region by analyzing the specific powers, the exclusive and concurrent regional areas of competence with regard to the different sectors. Chapter four focuses on the specialty of Trentino Alto Adige region, or rather on the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano. With regard to this, an analysis was performed both on the implementation of the legislative decrees of the Statute and on the provincial and regional legislation. In particular, the financial structure, after the Milan Agreement, is discussed in-depth. Chapter five examines the special Statute of Sardegna region at a legislative, administrative and financial level. Furthermore, the constitutional laws that modified the Statute over time (Constitutional Law 1/1972; Law 122/1983; Constitutional Law 1/1986; Constitutional Law 3/1989; Constitutional Law 2/1993; Constitutional Law 2/2001) were carefully analyzed, as well as the actions of the Constitutional Court. Chapter six covers the specialty recognized to region of Sicily by the legislator in terms of exclusive, integrative – concurrent legislations and within the administrative and financial organization. The recent decision no. 255/2014 of the Constitutional Court is also highlighted. The final chapter focuses, even in the light of the comparative analysis carried out, on an overall evaluation of the principle of differentiation by providing observations on the outlook of Italian regionalism.
The decentralization system impacts the change of the local tax regulation. Based on the Law No 34 of 2000 on local tax and retribution, local government may determine new kind of taxes besides what has established in this Law, but they must refer to the available criteria. Tax as one of the important local incomes to finance either the government operation or local development and to support the accountable, real, and extant decentralization . After the Law No 34 of 2000 has been replaced by the law No 28 of 2009 on local tax and retribution, local government is not allowed to pick up tax other than what the law has determined. The basis of the tax and the discretion is extended. To improve the tax accountability; this law stipulates that some parts of tax income should be allocated to finance activities relevant to such tax.<br /><br />Keywords : Local Tax
In the discourse of local government law, the idea that a mobile populace can “vote with its feet” has long served as a justification for devolution and decentralization. Tracing to Charles Tiebout’s seminal work in public finance, the legal-structural prescription that follows is that a diversity of independent and empowered local governments can best satisfy the varied preferences of residents metaphorically shopping for bundles of public services, regulatory environment, and tax burden. This localist paradigm generally presumes that fragmented governments are competing for residents within a given metropolitan area. Contemporary patterns of mobility, however, call into question this foundational assumption. People today move between — and not just within — metropolitan regions, domestically and even internationally. This is particularly so for a subset of residents — high human-capital knowledge workers and the so-called “creative class” — that is prominently coveted in this interregional competition. These modern mobile residents tend to evaluate the policy bundles that drive their locational decisions on a regional scale, weighing the comparative merits of metropolitan areas against each other. And local governments are increasingly recognizing that they need to work together at a regional scale to compete for these residents.This Article argues that this intermetropolitan mobility provides a novel justification for regionalism that counterbalances the strong localist tendency of the traditional Tieboutian view of local governance. Contrary to the predominant assumption in the legal literature, competition for mobile residents is as much an argument for regionalism as it has been for devolution and decentralization. In an era of global cities vying for talent, the mobility case for regionalism has significant doctrinal consequences for debates in local government law and public finance, including the scope of local authority, the nature of regional equity, and the structure of metropolitan collaboration.
The paper discusses the importance of the subsidiarity principle to the regulation of the global processes. It also analyzes the role of the subsidiary principle as a fundamental principle of the European Union legal framework in the perception of the identity of the civilizations as well as its influence on political-legal systems. Not only does the paper emphasize the importance of this principle to the European identity, but it also discloses the role of the idea of the subsidiarity, which was played in legal and social consciousness of the communities attributed to the Western and Eastern civilizations. The principle of subsidiarity is used here as a tool to disclose the identity of the civilisations and differences among them. Simultaneously, its positive role is highlighted in the global community’s solution of different kinds of conflicts (ideological, economic, religious or cultural) that arise among nations, countries or different civilisations. This article is aimed to demonstrante that reception of the principle of subsidiarity and it‘s institutionalization in the European Union and national legal frameworks are not accidental. The tools of legislative regulation based on this principle prevent global system from disregarding cultural differences. At the same time, it does not allow local identity to destroy the world unity. Thus, unified social systems can perfectly coexist with national, regional and local units, the latter ones maintaining their organizational structure and cultural traditions. Subsidiarity idea combining opposites makes sense as a principle of creating this diversity in unity, which ensures the integrity of autonomous structures making up the whole, preserving national, regional and cultural specificities of countries and people around the globe. The support of these processes provides the public with the opportunity to discover effective forms for the realization of self-organization and implementation of their needs and developing appropriate social structures and legal institutions regulating their activity. Through the examination of the concept of subsidiarity and aspects of its practical application in organizations, the article discusses the polarities of the different structure and management forms of the institutionalization of the principle of subsidiarity in the countries and its effect in the formation of the governance levels in the state, showing how balance of powers is achieved based on the subsidiarity principle, creating an effective mechanism of function distribution (determination of exclusive competencies) and their implementation (institutional interaction, their operational control). In structuring the institutional systems of the organization of the state, the subsidiarity concept is complemented with the elements of the management system decentralization, democratization, federalism and regional and local self-governments.
This research set out to explore the financial management by SGBs in public primary schools. The challenges as they were experienced by SGBs were identified. This study revealed that some public schools SGBs are dysfunctional with regard to the management of finances. The understanding of roles and responsibilities pertaining to the management of finances is insufficient. SGBs are still battling to understand the roles especially of the chairperson, treasurer and the secretary. There is a lack of monitoring and understanding of roles. Understanding of the financial legislative framework is still a challenge to rural public schools. Knowledge and interpretation of the other policies and regulations, Acts and prescripts is a major concern. There are transgressions of, and non-compliance with the financial legislative framework. The study further found that the SGBs’ perceptions, experience, feelings and thoughts with regard to management of finances are such that their lack of knowledge and skills in finance due to inadequate training makes them feel uncertain and unsure of their competence to manage finances. The quality of the training that they have received does not adequately empower them to manage finance successfully as it is offered by incompetent people. The contents of the prescripts, circulars, manuals and Acts are not clear at all to them. The English language used in the documents makes it especially difficult for SGB members, especially the parent component, to grasp what is needed. In some of the schools investigated, budgeting processes are done unilaterally by the principals who dominate every sphere of governance and relevant stakeholders are not involved. The PED should bear in mind that an investment in SGB training is an investment in their empowerment and decentralization of finances to public schools. If well trained SGBs could render a better service in managing public finances. A procurement management system should be developed, monitored and evaluated from the circuit level. Schools must be encouraged to create procurement clusters or budget clubs. Lengthening the time in office for the SGB from three to four or even five years will add value for money in the form of human investment. The issue of continuity must be ensured after each and every election or four years of re-election, especially in the portfolio of treasurers. This will enable governors to develop their experience over a longer period. During this time there should be continuous training as stipulated in section 19 of SASA. The PED should consider incentive programmes or honoraria for SGB members as a sign of acknowledgement, based on performance, to improve the quality of their effectiveness and efficiency in the management of school finances. The department must develop a financial assessment programme and remediation initiatives to decisively respond to schools that are dysfunctional in terms of financial management. Copyright
This contribution is aimed at comparing fiscal autonomy of self-governing units after fiscal decentralization in the Slovak republic. Evaluated and compared are budgets of selected Slovakian towns with the accent on the budget incomes creation. The contribution evaluates the level of self-financing as the share of own incomes to current expenditure, and also the level of self-sufficiency as the share of own incomes (including local taxes and fees) to total incomes.
The European Union (EU) is built on the federalist principle of subsidiarity, which we consider in the policy field of financial reporting. We attempt to answer the question, whether the current accounting regulation in Europe is sensibly balanced between centralized and decentralized decision making. Drawing on comparative accounting research to identify criteria for “local preferences,” we conclude that local solutions currently remain preferable for small and medium-sized companies. For them, a centralized solution would result in additional costs for at least some member states and their residents. Large international firms, in contrast, face an increasingly integrated capital market and rather need a central solution as currently implemented by the EU. However, recent developments in corporate finance may align local preferences on accountancy in the future.
In America free public education is a constitutional value. Yet, although free public education
for all is a constitutional value, America's public schools remain ravaged by savage
inequalities, many of which are the direct result of significant financial disparities. Given
the obvious conflict between the constitutional value of free public education for all and the
funding parities created by the States' school finance systems, it is not surprising that the
courts have been asked to intervene and vindicate the constitutional value of free public
education for all by declaring that the current system of financing the schools is
unconstitutional. However, a judicial solution to the problem has proved as elusive as a
legislative or executive solution. Paradoxically, a major reason for the States' failure to adequately finance the
achievement - the constitutional value of quality education for all - is the existence of other
constitutional values. In other words, there are values within the American constitutional
system that make it extremely difficult to achieve another constitutional value. This article
explains how two American constitutional values - judicial restraint and decentralization -
work together to prevent adequate funding of another constitutional value - a quality education
for all.