Celem artykułu jest identyfikacja głównych źródeł ryzyka w zarządzaniu finansami miasta Łodzi w warunkach konkretnych uwarunkowań czasu i miejsca. Podstawową metodą badawczą zastosowaną w opracowaniu jest analiza opisowa oparta na analizie aktualnych planów finansowych, dokumentów i dostępnych publicznie informacji związanych z gospodarką budżetową, działalnością inwestycyjną i zarządzaniem finansami miasta. Opracowanie rozpoczęto rozważaniami poświęconymi rodzajom ryzyka w ujęciu ogólnym i w ujęciu węższym, w odniesieniu do samorządu terytorialnego. Zwrócono uwagę na czynniki zarówno endogeniczne, jak i te o charakterze egzogenicznym, związanym na przykład z działalnością legislacyjną państwa. Następnie opisano aktualną i prognozowaną sytuację finansową miasta z uwzględnieniem opinii składu orzekającego Regionalnej Izby Obrachunkowej w sprawie projektu budżetu na 2013 roku i elementów wieloletniej prognozy finansowej na lata 2013–2031. W opiniach RIO zaakcentowano ryzyko związane z takimi elementami, jak duża dynamika długu, odłożenie spłaty zobowiązań w czasie, założony poziom nadwyżki operacyjnej, dochodów bieżących i wydatków majątkowych. W konkluzjach sformułowano ogólne uwagi dotyczące ryzyka w zarządzaniu finansami Łodzi w najbliższych latach i w perspektywie wieloletniej.
This paper discusses the problem of rational formation of the financing system for local self-government entities, especially local taxes in the light of fiscal illusions. The study involved methods of general statistical analysis of revenues from real property tax in Poland and selected conclusions from ten targeted in-depth interviews with the members of the Municipal Council. The results show a wide range of fiscal illusions as a consequence of the system of financing local government in Poland which is predominantly based on revenue from intergovernmental transfers instead of local taxes.
PL
W artykule podjęto problem racjonalnego kształtowania systemu finansowania jednostek samorządu terytorialnego, w szczególności podatków lokalnych, w kontekście problemu iluzji fiskalnych. Badania oparto przede wszystkim na ogólnej analizie statystycznej wpływów z podatku od nieruchomości w Polsce oraz wybranych wnioskach z przeprowadzonych dziesięciu pogłębionych wywiadów z radnymi wybranej Rady Miejskiej. Wyniki badań wskazują na szeroki zakres iluzji fiskalnych będący konsekwencją systemu finansowania samorządu terytorialnego w Polsce, opartego w przeważającej mierze na dochodach transferowych z budżetu państwa, a nie na podatkach lokalnych.
W artykule rozważam funkcje spełniane przez Komitet Regionów w procesie legislacyjnym Unii Europejskiej oraz w polityce unijnej i krajów członkowskich. Główna teza analiz opartych na metodzie dedukcji, koncentruje się wokół założenia, że w aktualnej sytuacji politycznej w Europie Komitet Regionów ma do odegrania nie tylko rolę opiniodawczą w obszarze legislacji, lecz także szerszą, fundamentalną rolę w kształtowaniu przyszłych kierunków rozwoju całej Unii Europejskiej. Rozważania prowadzone są w kontekście teorii federalizmu fiskalnego – w szczególności jednego z jej elementów, opartego na założeniu znaczenia struktury federalnej w łagodzeniu konfliktów – i w kontekście hybrydowego charakteru współczesnych modeli rozwoju. Wykorzystano w nich literaturę przedmiotu, opracowania na zlecenie Komisji Europejskiej, materiały Komitetu Regionów, dotychczasowe wyniki badań i tzw. raporty wpływu Komitetu Regionów opublikowane w latach 2014–2017.
EN
The article discusses the functions of the Committee of the Regions with respect to the legislative process and politics of the European Union, as well as to the politics of the Member States. The main assumption of the analysis, based on the deductive method, is that because of the current political situation in Europe, in addition to being a body giving opinions on the law, the Committee of the Regions should have a greater, fundamental role in shaping the future directions of development for the entire European Union. The discussion is set in the context of fiscal federalism theory and one of its elements assuming that a federal structure has a role in mitigating conflicts, as well as referring to the hybrid nature of the contemporary models of development. It is underpinned by the relevant literature, analyses commissioned by the European Commission, materials of the Committee of the Regions, findings of earlier studies, and the so-called impact reports of the Committee of the Regions published from 2014 to 2017.
The distribution of public revenues is one of the fundamental elements in the shaping of the system of public finance in any country. The process is difficult from both the political and economic points of view. Also the objective conditions make the ideal distribution impossible and any solution results in a greater or lesser fiscal imbalance. An attempt to solve the problems of vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalance and consequences of a greater contribution of territorial self-government tasks and finance leads to complex fiscal relations between the state and the territorial self-government. The aim of this paper is to point out the basic characteristics of the financing system of the local government and the areas of fiscal relations between the national and local government in Poland against the traditional principles of fiscal federalism. Statistical measures of financial independence of territorial self-government entities and their restrictions have also been presented here. The paper ends with conclusions which synthetically present the current problems in fiscal relations in Poland and conclusions de lege ferenda.
The distribution of public revenues is one of the fundamental elements in the shaping of the system of public finance in any country. The process is difficult from both the political and economic points of view. Also the objective conditions make the ideal distribution impossible and any solution results in a greater or lesser fiscal imbalance. An attempt to solve the problems of vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalance and consequences of a greater contribution of territorial self-government tasks and finance leads to complex fiscal relations between the state and the territorial self-government. The aim of this paper is to point out the basic characteristics of the financing system of the local government and the areas of fiscal relations between the national and local government in Poland against the traditional principles of fiscal federalism. Statistical measures of financial independence of territorial self-government entities and their restrictions have also been presented here. The paper ends with conclusions which synthetically present the current problems in fiscal relations in Poland and conclusions de lege ferenda.
The paper deals with selected aspects of the issue of financial transfers to local governments from the central budget. The first part of the paper describes the basic types of transfers, their role and limitations in central government financial policy resulting from decentralization. Further on, the author discusses the conditions of subsidizing and co-financing local governments under fiscal and budgetary policies. Guziejewska also examines the rules and purposes of financial policy, including the policy of subsidizing, sources of local government revenue and the role of soft and hard budget constraints. The author uses a descriptive analysis method, combined with elements of deduction and statistical analysis. The analysis confirms that the importance of transfers to local governments depends on the level of decentralization of public finances, the detailed structure of individual transfers and the roles that they are supposed to play in the financial system of the state. In Poland, general- and specific-purpose subsidies as well as designated grants play a key role in transfers from the national budget to local areas. Transfers to municipalities differ from those intended for other local government units above the municipality level. The Polish financial transfer system places insufficient emphasis on the goals that individual transfers are supposed to serve, Guziejewska concludes. The system also overlooks the actual costs of services in local areas and makes limited use of the principle of co-financing. Moreover, the economic and social consequences of specific transfers and their political role are not always sufficiently analyzed.
Increasing the effectiveness of public finance in decentralized systems is a major challenge to both economic theory and practice. In broad terms, economic effectiveness means the relationship between the value of outlays incurred and the effects obtained thanks to these outlays. In the public finance sector, such calculations are difficult because the effects of operations in this sector are often impossible to measure. Studies of the effectiveness of local government finance in Poland tend to focus on a number of selected aspects, yet they rarely deal with the issue of effectiveness in the context of competition and payment for public services, the author says. Guziejewska describes the basic assumptions of two theoretical models known from research reports published abroad: a model developed by American economist Charles Tiebout and a theory proposed by Swedish economist Knut Wicksell. Both these theories deal with competition between local communities and the problem of preferential treatment with regard to public goods and payment for these goods. Even though these theoretical models have their limitations, both Tiebout and Wicksell point to the need to decentralize local finances, Guziejewska says. She presents different scenarios for income shocks in local government budgets, in both the centralized and decentralized systems. The theories described by the author are the basis for formulating certain recommendations related to the rationalization of local government finance, including more direct use of tax breaks for local taxpayers, the equivalence of burdens imposed on public institutions, and the need to counteract “fiscal illusions.”
Przedmiotem artykułu są iluzje fiskalne w zdecentralizowanych systemach finansów publicznych. Pojawienie się bowiem w systemie niezależnego i autonomicznego ogniwa jakim są finanse samorządu terytorialnego powoduje nowe problemy. W artykule przedstawiono syntezę wyników badan empirycznych poświęconych rodzajom i zakresowi iluzji fiskalnych wśród polskich radnych, w której główny nacisk położono na aspekty jakościowe analizowanego zjawiska. Wnioski z badań poświęconych Polsce skonfrontowano z nowymi nurtami badań oraz nowym spojrzeniem na problem, które ukazały się w ostatnich latach. Celem artykułu jest usystematyzowanie dotychczasowego stanu wiedzy w kontekście wybranych badań empirycznych, sformułowanie postulatów dla praktyki i decydentów publicznych oraz wskazanie na kierunki pożądanych badań w przyszłości. W artykule wykorzystano metodę desk research oraz doświadczenia i subiektywne spojrzenie badawcze nabyte w toku realizacji projektu poświęconego iluzjom fiskalnym. W trakcie tych badań potwierdzono główną tezę, że system finansowania samorządu terytorialnego oparty na dochodach o charakterze transferów z budżetu państwa wpływa na powstawanie i utrwalanie iluzji fiskalnych.
EN
This article examines fiscal illusions in public finance systems where decentralisation involving the introduction of an independent and autonomous component of local government funding brings new problems. It presents a synthesis of the findings from a Polish empirical study that set out to determine the types and extent of fiscal illusion among Polish councillors, focusing on the qualitative aspects of the phenomenon. It also compares the findings with other streams of research and new approaches to fiscal illusion. The purpose of the article is to systematise the knowledge of fiscal illusion based on selected empirical studies, to formulate proposals for practitioners and public decision‑makers, and to highlight areas for future research to address. The article was prepared using a desk research approach and the author’s own experiences and research perspective formed during the study of fiscal illusions. The findings presented in the article corroborate its main thesis that a local government funding system based on intergovernmental transfers contributes to the emergence and perpetuation of fiscal illusions.
Since the last global financial crisis, public expenditures have been experiencing increasing budget constraints. Therefore, public authorities search for solutions that would foster efficient and transparent expenditures at both the national and local government levels. One of the tools at their disposal is the performance-based budget, which is not, however, cheap or easy to implement. The aim of this paper is an assessment of the implementation of performance budgeting in Poland, and a formulation of proposals de lege ferenda. The assessment discusses selected aspects and conclusions which emerge from the experiences of other countries. The main thesis, set forth in the conclusion of this article, is that in many countries, including Poland, the implementation of a performance-based budget takes place at the national level, not at the local government level, which seems to be questionable, or even incorrect
This article deals with the problem of a discrepancy between the recommendations of the theory of public finance, in its various trends, and decentralisation processes in practice. The analysis is both theoretical and empirical. The aim of the discussion is to present the theoretical findings regarding fiscal decentralisation as well as to compare them with the recommendations of the fiscal decentralisation doctrine and with the trends in the practice of local government finances in Poland and selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The literature on the subject, studies by international institutions, as well as data from Eurostat and the European Commission are used in the deliberations. Two groups of countries were subject to a comparative analysis: the Visegrad Group Countries and the three Baltic states. These countries differ significantly in the scope of their fiscal decentralisation. Latvia, the Czech Republic and Poland seem to be most advanced in the process. In the conclusion of the study, a recommendation for a wider use of property taxes and the so‑called ‘additions to state taxes’ is put forward.
PL
W artykule podjęto problem rozdźwięku pomiędzy zaleceniami teorii finansów publicznych w różnych nurtach a procesami decentralizacji w praktyce. Analiza ma charakter teoretyczno‑empiryczny. Celem rozważań jest przedstawienie dorobku teoretycznego poświęconego decentralizacji fiskalnej wraz ze wskazaniem na zalecenia doktryny i skonfrontowanie ich z tendencjami w praktyce finansów samorządowych w Polsce i wybranych krajach Europy Środkowo‑Wschodniej. W rozważaniach wykorzystano literaturę przedmiotu jak również opracowania instytucji międzynarodowych, dane Eurostatu oraz Komisji Europejskiej. Analizie komparatystycznej poddano dwie grupy państw: państwa Grupy Wyszehradzkiej oraz 3 kraje nadbałtyckie. Kraje te znacznie różnią się jeśli chodzi o zakres decentralizacji fiskalnej. Za najbardziej satysfakcjonujący proces ten można uznać na Łotwie, w Czechach i Polsce. W zakończeniu sfomułowano rekomendacje szerszego wykorzystania podatków od nieruchomości oraz tzw. dodatków do podatków państwowych.
Research background: Municipal education expenditures finance the delivery of one of the key public services devolved by central government to lower levels of government. Traditional studies in this field are divided based on whether they consider socio-economic determinants or political factors within the new political economy. The study presented herein was undertaken to explore the role of demographic factors which are frequently ignored in research. Purpose of the article: This study seeks to identify which variables statistically significantly influence the level of education expenditures in municipalities. The empirical investigation is based on a sample of 2478 Polish municipalities and uses the 2016 Central Statistical Office data to analyse the correlations and regressions between municipal education expenditures and selected economic and socio-demographic factors. Methods: The parameters of the power and exponential model are estimated using the Generalised Least Squares Method. Findings & Value added: The results of the statistical analysis have shown a moderate, positive and significant correlation between municipalities' own revenue per capita and local share of education funding per capita. According to the regression analysis results, the model's explanatory variables accounted for 61% of the variance in municipal education expenditures per capita. The added value of the study is that it highlights the educational challenges related to the demographic situation in Poland that public authorities will soon have to address.
W artykule zajmujemy się problemem możliwości administracyjnych jako jednego z głównych wymogów , które spełnić musiały kraje w procesie przyłączania się do Unii Europejskiej i decentralizacji sektora publicznego i finansów publicznych. Przedstawiamy wybrane problemy decentralizacji w dwóch krajach: Polsce i Rumunii. Celem artykułu jest przedyskutowanie teoretycznych i praktycznych elementów dotyczących możliwości administracyjnych jako bariery decentralizacji fiskalnej jak również porównanie ich z poziomem zaawansowania decentralizacji. Oba kraje różnią się bowiem zakresem i stopniem procesu decentralizacji Z analizy porównawczej procesów decentralizacji o różnym stopniu zaawansowania wynika, że możliwości administracyjne mogą być elementem hamującym decentralizację fiskalną w różnych aspektach omawianych procesów. W przypadku Polski barierą jest dalsza decentralizacja podatków gminnych o bardziej złożonej konstrukcji prawno-finansowej. W Rumunii głównym problemem pozostaje głębsza decentralizacja kompetencji oraz faktyczna niezależność finansowa samorządu terytorialnego. W istocie chodzi więc, w tym kraju, o faktyczną implementację zasady subsydiarności.
EN
This paper considers the problem of administrative capacity as one of the main requirements that the accession countries seeking EU membership had to meet, and as a prerequisite to the decentralization of their public sectors and public finances. The selected decentralization problems are analyzed using the cases of two countries: Romania and Poland. The results of a theoretical and practical evaluation of administrative capacity as a likely obstacle to fiscal decentralization are presented taking account of the different levels of decentralization in Poland and Romania. A comparative analysis of Romania and Poland shows that administrative capacity can be a constraint for fiscal decentralization. In Poland, the main problem is that the local authorities have not yet been granted powers over taxes that are more complicated to administer in legal and financial terms. Romania has the problem of the incomplete devolution of powers and the limited financial independence of local governments, which basically means that the principle of subsidiarity is insufficiently implemented.
The process of globalization, which is ongoing in a variety of dimensions, the ever-increasing mobility of capital and production factors as well as the fiscal problems in many European countries make the debate over tax competition still relevant today. The article discusses the problem of tax competition in the corporate income tax in the context of inward foreign direct investment in the Member States of the European Union. The advantages and disadvantages of tax competition as well as its consequences for the revenues from corporate income tax and for the inward foreign direct investment have been presented for the years 2000-2013. On the basis of an analysis of the literature and a general statistical analysis, the authors identified and described three strategies of tax competition: aggressive, moderate and conservative. Furthermore, rankings of the countries were created on the basis of two elements, namely: changes to FDI and the share of CIT revenues in GDP. The authors have also estimated parameters of the dynamic panel model in order to find relations between the corporate income tax and the ratio of FDI to GDP and have found differences between crisis period and stable period and differences in results for two groups of countries (new members of the EU and old ones).
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