This thesis investigates economic aspects of the measurement of fiscal decentralisation to establish how a nation's fiscal arrangements can be consistently measured, so they can be compared internationally. A new index of fiscal decentralisation is developed that reflects two key elements of the theory of fiscal decentralisation: the fiscal autonomy of subnational governments; and their fiscal importance. The role of fiscal inequality in subnational governments' public finances is also considered. The thesis consists of nine chapters which are distinct but closely related. These nine chapters can be divided into the three

The adoption of decentralised systems of governance in its various forms across the world represents one of the most important reforms of the past generation. In South Africa, through a plethora of legislative reforms post 1994, the framework of developmentalism and decentralisation underpin the structure and functioning of the local government system. The new onerous legislative responsibilities bestowed on local government included the significant objectives of promoting social and economic development. Given however the myriad of challenges in this sphere of government, the need to find meaningful, suitable and sustainable solutions are even more pressing. By employing a two-way error component fixed panel data regression technique, this study explores the impact of fiscal decentralisation arrangements in South Africa on the financial wellbeing of the district municipalities across the length and breadth of the country. The data reveals that district municipalities in South Africa are not able to self-generate a meaningful amount of revenue and as a result they are heavily dependent on intergovernmental transfers. The results from the regression models reveal that the fiscal decentralisation arrangement have no meaningful impact on the financial condition of district municipalities in South Africa, given their lack of fiscal autonomy. The current two-tier system of governance between local and district municipalities is not consistent with the tenets and intended outcomes of a decentralised system and there is a need to restructure this system to make it more fiscally autonomous and sustainable for municipalities to be able to fulfil legislative responsibilities.

The objective of this study is to obtain an in-depth understanding of the practical working of property tax administration in Jamaica. It highlights the major enforcement and compliance practices along with how the invisible and underlying interactions of actors in the field shape these practices. It also explores those issues and circumstances along with the existing patterns of interests which have contributed to the continued practice of the central administration of the property tax. The study also emphasizes struggles in the property tax field between the various players: the tax authority, the politicians, the developers, the local authorities, the central government and the taxpayers and how each one uses its capital to maintain or dominate its position within the property tax field. The findings revealed that there were various tensions and struggles among the different players within property tax field in Jamaica. The players in the field used their ‘capitals’ to maintain, dominate and or attempt to make changes to the property tax rules. The findings suggest that some property tax enforcement practices were the means through which these tensions were manifested and resolved or on the other hand, the tax authority attempted to use the current practices as hidden agendas to highlight those tensions in order to stand their ground or obliquely suggest changes or even to demonstrate its tacit support of government policies. The findings also suggest that the non-localization of the property tax may be due to varied political interests, mistrust in the local authorities and also the perception by some players that there’s a lack of capital at the local level to manage the tax. Finally, taxpayers’ used their social, economic and cultural capital to resist enforcement and compliance efforts cheating the government of much needed revenues Property tax although not an important national tax is a critical source of revenue for local communities globally. An increased understanding of the working of the practices is beneficial and has implications for both taxpayers and policymakers. The three research questions posed in my study address and highlight the main property tax enforcement strategies and how the tax authority and policymakers use their capital to shape these practices; the extent to which non-localization of the property tax within the Portmore Municipality is influenced by the political dispositions of the players in the field and thirdly the dimensions of property tax compliance and non-compliance in Jamaica. The questions seek to demonstrate how the combination of the actions and interactions of tax administrators, taxpayers, politicians, developers, government bureaucrats reshape administrative practices in the property tax field which have implications for revenue generation and the provision of services. In keeping with the adoption of an interpretive inductive approach, face-to-face interviews were conducted with tax administrators, policymakers, councillors, mayors, taxpayers, members of civil society, a developer and a tax professional. A theoretical framework is created which combines the major themes and theoretical concepts within three strands of literature: tax administration, fiscal decentralization, and Bourdieu’s theory of practice. The structure provides the explanatory lens through which the findings are presented and interpreted. The study contributes to the tax scholarship through an interpretive methodical approach which gives an additional perspective on property tax administration. It answers the call for well-developed tax research dispelling the notion that tax research is adequately dealt with. This study contributes to the tax literature by demonstrating that taxation isn’t just a technical issue; that the legal framework and administrative framework don’t necessarily coincide with practice; that tax practice is shaped by the actions and interactions of players in the field, making it a social construction; that players use their power to influence property tax practice and that players actions are conditioned by their background. The study also contributes a conceptual framework for property tax practice.

The diploma thesis deals with the taxation of real estates in the Czech and Slovak Republic from 1993 to the present. An important starting point is the former common state and a similar system of property tax. Submitted thesis tries to highlight the most significant differences in taxation, which were noticeable in the beginning of independent states. Differences were deepened due to force of new Slovak law. The attention is focused on local self-government, i.e. municipality and its authority in determining the property tax revenue. The range of authorities can be understood as reflect of fiscal decentralisation, which is qualitatively and quantitatively described in the analytical part of the thesis.

This paper gives a review on the theoretical foundation for fiscal decentralisation and a status quo analysis of the intergovernmental relations in Mongolia. It consists of two parts. Part I briefly reviews the theories of fiscal decentralisation and its impact on the nations’ welfare considering the major challenges for a transition economy. Part II of the paper describes the general structure and scope of the government and examines the current fiscal autonomy in Mongolia focusing on the four main areas of intergovernmental relations. This paper concludes that local governments in Mongolia are still far away from having the political, administrative and fiscal autonomy. New approaches for the assignments of expenditures and revenues in Mongolia are urgently needed.

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.

The subject of this diploma thesis is analysis of the structure, value and development of expenditure by municipalities in the CZ with emphasis on municipalities in the South Bohemian Region for the purpose of objectification of local public expenses. The analysis was performed on a representative sample of 179 municipalities within the scope of the South Bohemian Region. The source of data was municipal budgets during the period from 2005 {--} 2007, refined by removal of transfers to own funds. The representative sample was divided into seven size categories according to the number of inhabitants in the municipality. The average annual percentage of six key budget forming expense groups, of the overall current expenditure for each municipality of the representative sample, each size category and collectively for the South Bohemian Region and the whole CZ was expressed (in percent and value) by means of a vertical analysis. The next step was a more detailed analysis of selected budget forming branch classification expense groups (1, 5, 6), sections (33, 34), sub-sections (363) and paragraphs (2212), by means of conversion to requirement indicator unit (for instance per 1 inhabitant, hectare area, km of road). The average annual current expenditure for every group (section, sub-section, paragraph) of the budget per every requirement indicator unit was determined, initially individually for each municipality and subsequently for each of the size categories. The same procedure was applied to the collective current expenditure of the South Bohemian Region and the Czech Republic. The estimates of the fiscal (expenditure) requirements of municipalities and fiscal requirement indexes were also calculated in the interests of dealing with the issue of the size of local public expenditure comprehensively. By mutual comparison of the results, differences in the size of local public expenditure of specific municipalities were revealed, which may be the result of ineffective economic management and therefore require increased attention and more detailed analysis. This diploma thesis provides a comprehensive overview of the structure, value and development of local public expenditure by municipalities in the South Bohemian Region (by means of public inspection), opportunities for increasing efficiency in provision of local public goods and services.

Entre 1945 et 2008, le nombre de pays reconnus internationalement a augmenté de 74 à 193 (Spolaore, 2008). Plus récemment, plusieurs pays ont vécu une vague croissante de décentralisation. Dans les pays de l’OCDE, par exemple, le nombre de gouvernements infranationaux a atteint 140 000 en 2014. De plus, ces gouvernements infranationaux ont une influence croissante dans ces pays (OCDE, 2014). Compte tenu de ces tendances vers une décentralisation croissante, cette thèse étudie deux aspects de celle-ci : la concurrence fiscale, et le choix endogène des frontières. En matière de concurrence fiscale, cette thèse étudie la mise aux enchères de nouveaux investissements par une firme à plusieurs établissements. Le but de cette analyse est d’étudier le comportement stratégique de la firme dans ce type de concurrence. En effet, contrairement à la littérature déjà existante qui ne considère que des firmes qui ne produisent qu’en un endroit, le premier chapitre de thèse montre que la firme peut modifier l’allocation de ses investissements en les différenciant, pour attirer des subsides plus élevés. Dans le deuxième chapitre, la thèse étudie comment l’ajout de coûts en infrastructure pour les régions avant la mise aux enchères affecte la concurrence entre les régions ainsi que le comportement de la firme. En matière de choix endogène des frontières, cette thèse fournit deux analyses: une empirique, et une expérimentale. Dans le troisième chapitre, la thèse étudie la décision d’électeurs dans 213 villes du Québec de quitter une fusion municipale qui leur fût imposée quelques années auparavant. L’analyse révèle que les électeurs choisissent de faire sécession d’autant plus quand les différences de revenus et de langue entre leur ville et les autres villes dans la même fusion sont plus élevées. L’analyse révèle aussi que ces deux facteurs ne sont pas indépendants. En effet, les différences de revenus ont un effet plus prononcé sur le vote sécessionniste lorsque les différences de langue sont aussi élevées. Étant donné l’importance de la langue comme groupe ethno-linguistique au Québec, les résultats de ce chapitre suggèrent que le choix des électeurs est sensible aux différences ethniques, et non seulement à des différences de goût pour les biens publics, comme suggéré par Alesina, Baqir et Hoxby (2004). Finalement, le dernier chapitre présente les résultats d’un expérience en laboratoire sur le lien entre décentralisation et sécession. La littérature sur le sujet suggère l’existence de deux effets contradictoires. La décentralisation pourrait permettre de contrer les mouvements de sécession en permettant aux régions de prendre plus de décisions à un niveau local, mais pourrait aussi fournir des ressources supplémentaires aux mouvements sécessionnistes, ce qui renforcerait les tendances vers la séparation. Les résultats de l’expérience montre que l’effet total de la décentralisation est de diminuer la probabilité de votes pour la sécession. / Between 1945 and 2008, the number of internationally-recognised countries grew from 74 to 193 (Spolaore, 2008). More recently, many countries experienced increasing decentralisation. In OECD countries, for example, the number of sub-national governments reached 140,000 in 2014. Moreover, these sub-national governments have an increasing influence in these countries (OECD, 2014). Given these trends towards an increasing decentralisation, this thesis studies two aspects of it: fiscal competition, and the endogenous choice of borders. In terms of fiscal competition, this thesis studies the competition between regional governments to attract one of a firm's new plants. The goal of this analysis is to study the strategic behaviour of the firm in such competitions or location contests. Indeed, in contrast to the existing literature on the subject that considers only firms producing in a single location, the first chapter of this thesis shows that the firm can modify its allocation of production across sites by differentiating the plants, thus attracting larger subsidies. In the second chapter, this thesis studies how the addition of prior investment in infrastructure by the regions before the location contest affects both the competition between the regions, and the behaviour of the firm. In terms of endogenous border choice, this thesis provides two analyses: one empirical and one experimental. In the third chapter, this thesis studies the decision of voters in 213 cities of Quebec to secede from a municipal merger that was imposed to them a few years earlier. The analysis reveals that voters choose secession more when the language and income differences between their own town and the other towns in the same merger are larger. The analysis also reveals that these two effects are not independent. Indeed, income differences have a larger effect when language differences are also large. Given the importance of language differences in the formation of ethnic groups in Quebec, these results suggest that the choice of voters is sensitive to ethnic differences, and not only to differences in preferences for public goods, as suggested by Alesina, Baqir, and Hoxby (2004). Finally, the last chapter presents the results of a laboratory experiment on the relationship between decentralisation and secession. The literature on the subject suggests the existence of two opposite effects. Decentralisation could quell secessionist movements by giving regions more liberty to take their own public goods decisions, but could also provide additional ressources to secessionist movements, which would reinforce secessionist movements. The results of the experiment show that the total effect of decentralisation is to decrease to probability of votes for secession.

Thesis (MComm (Education))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / In enquiring after the best means of financing basic local services in South Africa, the thesis begins by reviewing the arguments for fiscal decentralisation and the efficiency criteria for expenditure and revenue assignment. The role of local government within South Africa’s system of intergovernmental fiscal relations is then evaluated. A chapter is devoted to the efficient pricing of infrastructure for household services. However, it is emphasised that such pricing is unlikely to meet equity criteria for access and affordability. The equity aspect of providing basic local services is explored further from the perspective of South African Constitutional obligations and the current basic services policy framework. A concluding chapter discusses issues arising out of the work and provides some recommendations.