Research on the Strategies That Can Improve the Financial Autonomy of Kaohsiung County Abstract Local autonomy is the foundation of democracy, and finance is the basis of government administration. Before local autonomy can be put into practice, a local government must have the legal right to finance. In order to improve the autonomy of local finance, the central government has enacted ¡§General Guideline for Local Taxation¡¨ and ¡§Law on Imposed Fees,¡¨ and the revised draft of the Financial Separation of Revenues and Expenditures Law was submitted to the Legislature for review and discussion. In other words, in the future, the central government will guarantee the basic financial needs of local governments, but local governments must resort to themselves to respond to their respective development and needs in other aspects. This will pose very harsh challenges and burdens to any local government. This is especially true when the financial sources for administrative districts are usually not sufficient. So how to improve the financial autonomy of local governments will be a major topic we will have to deal with. Literature review, analysis of secondary data, and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect financial statistics of government agencies, pertinent to the financial conditions of Kaohsiung County. Interviews of financial chiefs were also conducted to analyze and investigate issues on the system dimension and on the practical dimension. It was found that the central and the local government must work closely before the financial problems of Kaohsiung County can be solved. The things that the central government should do include: canceling the fixed-proportions distribution of over-the-board allocated tax money, revising the calculation of basic financial revenues, canceling inappropriate measures of tax deductions, and establishing statutory subsidy systems. The local government should work to increase the sources of finance, including making good use of ¡§General Guideline for Local Taxation¡¨ and ¡§Law on Imposed Fees,¡¨ improving management of public properties, adjusting tax base of property, setting into motion public facilities, and implementing land re-divisions and sectional buy-up. With regard to saving, the local government should downsize the personnel expenditures, make good use of resources of the private sector, encourage private sector¡¦s participation in investment, and privatize public services. The implementation of local autonomy depends on sound local finances. In the wake of the present difficult public financial conditions, local governments should follow the spirit of ¡§Help oneself before others come to help¡¨ so as to elevate their responsibility and financial autonomy in the future. Only through this method can financial problems be solved effectively.

Abstract Democratic politics is founded on local self-government, while promotion and advancement of local self-government rely on abundant local finance. There is a Chinese saying, ¡§finance is the mother of general affairs,¡¨ which refers to finance as the foundation for performing general affairs. As far as our country is concerned, local financial shortage has become a long-term issue. All the city and county governments do not have enough revenues to afford various expenditures. The unbalance between revenues and expenditures results in a wider and wider financial gap. Local governments cannot afford various expenditures or proceed with local infrastructure without debts or subsidies. Kaohsiung City has been in a difficult position of financial shortage in recent years as well, despite being a municipality. The growth rate of annual revenues is far lower than the increase rate of annual expenditures; on the other hand, the government becomes more and more dependent on subsidies every year. As a result, the financial autonomy is lowered, and the financial gap becomes wider as the government still has to owe debts to correspond to the expenditures. A comprehensive review is thus urgently needed, in order to come up with a set of complete and effective plans to improve financial balance and gradually restore sound and stable financial systems. This study investigated and analyzed the financial issues of Kaohsiung City through literature review, secondary data analysis, and empirical analysis, in order to have a solid understanding of the problems concerning the financial status, revenues and expenditures of Kaohsiung City, and to further probe into the influential factors that cause the difference between the revenues and expenditures of Kaohsiung City. It is hoped that this study can help understand the current local financial problems, find strategies to resolve the unbalance between revenues and expenditures, and draw up adequate solution plans, in order to solve the financial problems that Kaohsiung City is facing. Therefore, this study provides the following suggestions: strengthen collection of various taxes to increase treasury income; actively seek new financial resources to enhance self-governing financial power; encourage industries to make investment in Kaohsiung; strive to explore tourism resources to create a solid foundation for growth of tax revenues with prosperous economy; review organization functions and merge agencies with overlapping functions to cut financial expenditures; and encourage public participation in public infrastructure and revive economic activities of private enterprises.

Given that all the governments in modern countries have put stress on service performance and quality, the role played by local governments is increasingly important. The main reason is that localization can provide a region with practical needs, so as to improve citizens¡¦ living quality. At the same time, with local decentralization, local governments can create respective regional distinctions and industrial cultures and learn from mutual competition. In the end, their citizen service performance will be further elevated reinforced. Currently, governments¡¦ functions have been expanding, which results in continuing increase in expenditures. Thus, financial decentralization has become a trend of modern countries, in which local governments have to have sufficient finance in order to effectively execute policies and plans. At present, our central government has ample financial resources and is in the position to distribute them, which helps the central government promote major policies and brings about local government¡¦s balanced development. However, in a different light, the decentralization of local finance is limited and resource distribution is out of balance. As a result, autonomous tasks have become difficult to be promoted, so the function of local autonomy cannot be well developed. Hence, the rule of thumb for wielding the substantive function of local governance is to elevate the autonomy of local finance. To increase local revenues, the central government passed the General Principles of Local Tax Act and Fee Act in 2002 to legalize the increase of local governments¡¦ revenues and give local governments more autonomy on their revenues. To this day, limited by pragmatic politics, the expected goal is hard to be attained in a short run, but, in order to effectively improve local financial plights, strengthen local chiefs¡¦ responsibility for the local finance they are in charge, maintain financial discipline and build the function of authorization management, the General Principles of Local Tax Act shall be fully followed in local governments¡¦ imposition of the special product tax, special tax and provisional tax, so as to improve local finance. The purposes of this study are to describe and analyze local governments¡¦ financial status, better understand the financial problems encountered by county/city governments and explore the goals to be attained for enhancing local finance, so as to put forth a strategy to reinforce financial autonomy. This study uses the research methodology including literature data collection, in-depth interviews and secondary data analysis, in which interviews with 11 financial experts were conducted. The main contents of this study cover the analysis of local financial structure in the dimension of law, comparison of county/city governments¡¦ financial revenue and expenditure, and analysis of Penghu County¡¦s financial revenue, expenditure and autonomy. The study further uncovers current local financial status and the existing problems, so as to put forth a strategy of financial autonomy to enhance local finance and attain the goal of sustainable management. By studying the overall dimension of local finance, this paper has concluded the following: 1. The expenditure structure is stiff, and the ratio of personnel expenses to annual expenses is too high. 2. Local financial autonomy shall be elevated and the subsidy system shall be enhanced. 3. Financial Distribution Act is required to be amended, but it will still not completely solve the financial problems. 4. Private participation in public construction or entrusted operation and development shall be strengthened. 5. Expenses of local non-statutory social welfare inflate and local governments¡¦ financial capacity is deficient. 6. Local governments¡¦ financial deficits have continued year by year, so public debts have also persistently increased. 7. Public property management shall be reinforced, so as to increase local financial revenues. 8. Even though General Principles of Local Tax Act are passed and enforced, their substantive function still cannot be wielded. Under existing statutory laws and regulations, the financial resources of local autonomy show severe shortages, and there are many problems existing amid respective local governments. In order to elevate local financial autonomy, this paper uses Penghu County as an example, and provides recommendations from the aspects of legal systems, policies and management respectively.

La question de l’autonomie des finances publiques de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, petite île du nickel dans l’océan Pacifique sud, est fondamentale pour cette collectivité sui generis inscrite au titre XIII de la Constitution de 1958. En effet, disposer d’une autonomie renforcée avec de larges compétences (à l’exception des régaliennes), un gouvernement local, des lois de pays, un régime fiscal autonome et un régime propre de sécurité sociale et de santé, n’a de sens juridique et financier que dans le contexte où la collectivité d’outre-mer dispose à la fois de structures administratives publiques et privées fiables, de ressources humaines compétentes et expérimentées mais surtout de ressources financières pérennes et suffisantes pour assumer ses nouvelles responsabilités à partir d’une meilleure gestion du temps.Or entre 2014 et 2019, la baisse des transferts de l’Etat en valeur courante avec environ 1088 M euros en 2010, la réduction progressive des interventions de l’Etat et le financement exclusif de l’Etat pour ses compétences régaliennes vont constituer des hypothèses de fonds à solutionner pour les finances publiques de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Par ailleurs, il s’agira dans le même temps pour la collectivité de prendre en charge financièrement les transferts de compétences non régaliennes même si un dispositif d’accompagnement de l’Etat est mis en œuvre.Dès lors, la présente thèse se propose d’examiner en première lieu les pratiques pour préparer à l’autonomie financière entre 2000 et 2010. Le constat reste mi-figue mi raisin. En effet, si les politiques publiques menées ont permis de dégager des taux de croissance économiques de 3 % par an avec la construction de trois nouvelles usines de nickel de niveau mondial, il faut constater que plusieurs chantiers de finances publiques ont été reporté sine die. D’une part, la réforme de la dépense publique reste à engager en raison du report implicite des transferts de compétences non régaliennes. D’autre part, la réforme de la fiscalité et des participations industrielles du nickel ne peut plus être mise à l’écart en raison du fort potentiel industriel et fiscal existant. Ainsi, il sera étudié en second lieu le changement de dynamique et de structures des finances publiques. En d’autres termes, l’autonomie renforcée reste à inventer sans doute entre 2014 et 2024.Toutes ces mutations doivent nous conduire à imaginer une Nouvelle-Calédonie du consensus, de la maturité et de l’équilibre au moins des finances publiques. / Pas de résumé en anglais.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil (Law) / When Zambia got its independence in 1964, there was neither a constitutional reference to local government nor constitutional provisions for local government finance. However, the new Zambian government inherited a relatively stable local government finance system. One year after Independence, councils operated under a new effected Local Government Act of 1965. The period 1965 to 1973 was a period of great success for local government, as it continued to enjoy stable and strong fiscal resources. Councils raised adequate own revenues from sources such as local electricity, water, housing and motor vehicle licensing. Local government also received adequate grants from the central government which were targeted for the development of each Council.

La politique n'a pas de prix, mais elle a un coût. Activité humaine, elle suppose également le concours d'acteurs qui doivent d'abord vivre et pourvoir aux besoins immédiats de leur condition. De telles considérations ne sauraient être abandonnées aux vicissitudes personnelles ni plus qu'aux aléas de la conjoncture. Car le financement de la politique détermine autant les moyens de celle-ci que ses fins. Orientée vers l'intérêt général, soumise à de strictes exigences fonctionnelles, elle excluait tout palliatif financier. La politique suppose ainsi l'autonomie : une autonomie réelle, donc une autonomie financière. S'exerçant par l'entremise d'autant de pouvoirs spécifiques, il restait à satisfaire cette exigence dans le cadre toujours particulier de leur régime juridique respectif. Mais au-delà d'une nécessaire analyse juridique du phénomène en tant que tel, il apparaît bien qu'un pouvoir politique fondamental en ait encore été exclu : à savoir, la citoyenneté. Mettre à jour le cadre juridique de son autonomie financière demeurait donc une tâche essentielle. Au dévoilement d'une logique théorique implacable pouvait alors répondre la mise à jour d'autant de pratiques historiquement datées, l'ensemble débouchant sur la structuration actuelle du droit positif. Par cette triple exigence, on pouvait alors participer à l'effort général qui s'est donné pour tâche de contribuer à éclaircir un objet aussi complexe que celui du financement public de la politique / Politics has a cost. But its mode of financing is not neutral : because it seeks the general interest, it must allow the autonomy of political activity and personnel political. This requirement can therefore be presented in the form of a general legal principle, which is organized differently for each particular political power. But if these different financial statuses are generally known, this is not the case of the one that applies to citizenship. It was therefore essential to determine the nature of it. This requires first to set the conceptual framework, then to study the historical practice, and finally to show the current legal mechanisms. This demonstrates the necessary existence of a general principle of financial autonomy of political powers, which also applies to citizenship

La décentralisation budgétaire au Vietnam fait partie du processus de transition du pays d'un modèle d'économie planifiée et centralisée vers un modèle d'économie de marché. Cette évolution est le résultat de la politique de « Renouveau» (Doi Moi) du pays, lancée officiellement en 1986. Désignée sous le terme de « décentralisation de la gestion» dans le droit Vietnamien (en 1955), puis développée dans la première Loi sur le budget de l'État (en 1996), la décentralisation en matière budgétaire a connu de nombreuses réformes importantes. Cependant, dans le contexte actuel, la structure complexe du système budgétaire et l'enchevêtrement des relations entre ses différentes strates ne peuvent plus répondre aux exigences d'un développement socio-économique durable du pays. Ces questions conduisent à mener une réflexion approfondie sur le processus, les principes normatifs, les acteurs et l'état des lieux de la décentralisation budgétaire au Vietnam. Des perspectives pour son avenir sont ensuite proposées avec pour points forts une rationalisation du système budgétaire, un rééquilibrage des rapports financiers entre le pouvoir central et les pouvoirs locaux. / Budget decentralization in Vietnam is part of the transition process from a centrally planned economic model to a market economy model. This evolution is the result of the "Renewal" (Doi Moi) policy in the country officially launched in 1986. Designated by the term "decentralization of management" in Vietnamese Law (1955) and developed in the first Law on the State Budget (1996), decentralization in budgetary matters has seen many important reforms. However, in the current context, the complex structure of the budget system and the tangled relations between its different levels can no longer meet the requirements of sustainable socio-economic development. This leads to a thought of a thorough reflection on the process, principles, factors and the status of budgetary decentralization in Vietnam. Prospects for the budget's future are then proposed with strong emphasis on streamlining the system, a rebalancing of the financial relations between the central government and local authorities.

No Estado federal, o poder decorrente da soberania, na promulgação da Constituição, distribui competências entre os entes da federação, os quais passam a deter autonomia legislativa para as matérias de sua competência, exercidas pelos seus governos próprios. Essa autonomia tem como pressuposto a existência de fontes de recursos independentes, bem como a possibilidade de escolher livremente a aplicação de seus gastos, prerrogativas que integram o conceito de autonomia financeira. A interpretação das limitações impostas ao poder reformador pelo artigo 60, § 4o, inciso I, da Constituição de 1988 divide a doutrina jurídica ao proceder à análise da alteração de competências tributárias legislativas dos Estados-membros, especialmente no tocante à constitucionalidade da modificação que limitaria a autonomia financeira desses entes e, em razão disso, tenderiam a abolir a forma federativa de Estado. Sob os pressupostos da teoria do positivismo jurídico metódico-axiológico, selecionada como guia para o presente trabalho, foi construída a fundamentação jurídica do princípio federativo na Constituição brasileira, para, então, desenvolver a análise de cinco hipóteses de alteração de competências tributárias dos Estados. As conclusões obtidas foram que (i) a exclusão integral das competências tributárias legislativas dos Estados constituiria uma violação da autonomia financeira destes, sendo vedada sua validade no ordenamento atual; (ii) a exclusão da competência legislativa para apenas um dos impostos seria vedada, salvo situações excepcionais concernentes a competências funcionalmente secundárias; (iii) a constitucionalidade da redução do critério material de incidência de um imposto de competência legislativa dos Estados deve ser verificada de acordo com a eficácia da supressão em face dos objetivos firmados, bem como diante da disponibilidade de meios alternativos de obter tais desígnios; (iv) a exclusão ou mitigação da competência tributária legislativa para fixar alíquotas dos tributos privativos é vedada, sendo permitida a existência de patamares mínimos e máximos para essas alíquotas; (v) a exclusão da competência legislativa para conceder benefícios fiscais é vedada, sendo permitido que essa matéria seja objeto de restrições relativas à necessidade de deliberação coletiva pelos Estados. / In the Federation, the power from the sovereignty, in the enactment of the Federal Constitution, allocates the levels of authorities amongst the federative members, which have legislative independence to the matters under their responsibility, exercised by their own government. Such independence is based on the assumption that independent resources are available, as well as that the costs can be freely incurred, comprising the definition of financial autonomy. The interpretation of the limitations established in article 60, paragraph 4, I, of the Federal Constitution of 1988, divides the legal science with respect to the legislative tax powers of the Member States, specifically with respect to the constitutionality of amendments that would limit their financial independence and, accordingly, would discontinue the federative view. Based on the methodic and axiological legal positivism, on which this work is developed, the legal justification of the federative principle of the Brazilian Constitution was proposed with a view to develop the analysis on the five alternatives related to the tax responsibilities of the States. The conclusions reached were that (i) the full exclusion of the legislative tax powers of the States would represent a violation against their financial autonomy, not allowed under current constitution; (ii) the exclusion of the legislative powers with respect to one of the taxes would not be permitted, except for extraordinary events of secondary relevance; (iii) the constitutionality of the reduction of the tax bases under the legislative powers of the States must be verified in accordance with the respective effectiveness of such tax based on the purposes agreed, as well as according to the availability of alternative means for such; (iv) the exclusion or mitigation of the tax powers to define the rates of the exclusive taxes is not permitted, but the minimum and maximum levels thereof are allowed; (v) the exclusion of the legislative powers to grant the tax benefits is not permitted; and such matter could be subject to the restrictions related to the need of collective approval by the States.

nÃo hà / O presente trabalho promoveu uma anÃlise da eficiÃncia da despesa e do investimento dos governos estaduais a partir de dados anuais da Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional (STN) para os exercÃcios financeiros de 25 unidades federativas do Brasil entre 2009 e 2013. Modelos EconomÃtricos para medidas de eficiÃncia da despesa e do investimento pÃblico foram estimados e os resultados permitiram inferir que a autonomia financeira à o meio para a consecuÃÃo da maior eficiÃncia em termos de execuÃÃo orÃamentÃria estadual. / This paper promoted a spending efficiency analysis and investment of state governments from annual data of the National Treasury Secretariat (STN) for the financial years 25 federal units of Brazil between 2009 and 2013. Econometric Models for efficiency measures spending and public investment was estimated and the result showed that the financial autonomy is the means to achieving greater efficiency in terms of state budget execution.

CAVALCANTE, Silvana Maria Pereira. Violência contra a mulher e autonomia financeira: uma avaliação do atendimento do Centro de Referência Francisca Clotilde de Fortaleza/Ceará. 2012. 192f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Avaliação de Políticas Públicas, Fortaleza (CE), 2012. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-10-01T13:27:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2012-DIS-SMPCAVALCANTE.pdf: 2148777 bytes, checksum: 43e9eef5229ef9c9c9cddde6534290c4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-10-01T14:17:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2012-DIS-SMPCAVALCANTE.pdf: 2148777 bytes, checksum: 43e9eef5229ef9c9c9cddde6534290c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-10-01T14:17:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2012-DIS-SMPCAVALCANTE.pdf: 2148777 bytes, checksum: 43e9eef5229ef9c9c9cddde6534290c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Violence against women is a form of gender violence. It does not occur at random but as the result of a social and cultural process which favors the masculine and culminates in social inequalities between the genders expressed in a condition of submission, subordination and dependence of women on men, including financial dependence. Therefore, financial autonomy represents an important challenge for women regularly subject to gender violence. The objective of this study was to evaluate the service provided by a referral center in Fortaleza (Centro de Referência Francisca Clotilde) for victims of domestic or sexual violence, with emphasis on the development of financial autonomy. Using the hermeneutic-dialectic method and a qualitative approach, the process was evaluated in depth. Information on the service collected through a review of documents was submitted to simple statistical analysis, while information obtained through field interviews with professionals and attendees was submitted to hermeneutic interpretation. The data were used to draw a profile of the attendees and carry out an analysis of the contents expressed in the interviews. The central question of the study was to determine to what extent attending the referral center helps women develop financial autonomy. Many of the attendees were unable to complete the referrals made by the center but adopted alternative strategies to secure a source of income, suggesting the need for reviewing public policies designed to help women in their private and professional life through the development of financial autonomy. The attendees reported experiencing life changes, not as a direct result of the referrals made by the center, but indirectly through interventions favoring the building of autonomy in a wider sense and, consequently, contributing to mitigating gender violence. / A violência contra a mulher é compreendida como um tipo de violência de gênero e não acontece aleatoriamente, mas resulta de construção social e cultural que privilegia o masculino. Essa construção culmina em desigualdades sociais entre os sexos, numa condição de submissão, subalternidade e dependência das mulheres aos homens também na esfera financeira. Nesse contexto, compreende-se que a autonomia financeira das mulheres em situação de violência é um fato desafiador e presente na realidade cotidiana destas. Dessa forma, este trabalho, visa, avaliar o atendimento realizado as mulheres atendidas no Centro de Referência Francisca Clotilde de Fortaleza, direcionando para ações realizadas no que concerne ao fortalecimento da autonomia financeira. Para tanto, a partir de uma abordagem qualitativa, guiada pelo método hermenêutico-dialético, utiliza-se como proposta a avaliação de processo em profundidade. Foram realizadas pesquisa documental e pesquisa de campo, procedendo a uma análise estatística simples dos dados do serviço, e interpretação hermenêutica das entrevistas com as profissionais e mulheres atendidas. Assim, com os dados, foi traçado o perfil recorrente das mulheres atendidas, e posteriormente realizada uma análise dos conteúdos expressos nos depoimentos das profissionais e mulheres. Fica posto então, que o eixo central das reflexões ocorre em torno de conhecer como o fluxo do serviço favorece para a construção da autonomia financeira das mulheres. Nesse contexto, ganha relevo o fato destas não efetivaram o fluxo proposto pelo serviço e realizarem estratégias outras para possuírem rendimentos, tornando visível a questão das políticas públicas em relação às possibilidades das mulheres articularem a vida profissional e privada no processo de construção da autonomia financeira. Evidencia-se ainda que ocorreram mudanças nas vidas das mulheres entrevistadas que, embora não tenham decorrido diretamente do fluxo do serviço, este realizou intervenções que se interligaram ao processo de construção da autonomia das mulheres de uma maneira ampla e consequentemente contribuíram no processo de rompimento da violência.