The Assignment of Revenues and Expenditures （收入和支出的分配）.pdf

The Assignment of Revenues and Expenditures in Intergovernmental * Fiscal Relations By Charles E. McLure Jorge Martinez-Vazquez I. Introduction Countries throughout the world are increasingly recognizing the benefits of fiscal decentralization. In theory – if not always in fact – decentralization makes it possible for people to have greater influence on the decisions of government that affect their lives. In countries as varied as the republics of the former Soviet Union, the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, South Africa, Australia, and various developing countries (e.g., Argentina, Bolivia, and Colombia), many see decentralization as an important component of a strategy designed to increase the political power of people, as expressed through local governments.1 Decentralization may, at the least, be important for political reasons, and it may also improve the welfare of the populace.2 The first fundamental step in the design of a system of intergovernmental fiscal relations should be a clear assignment of functional responsibilities among different levels of government. Instability and controversy in the practice of decentralized systems has followed when the law was silent or unclear about the competencies and expenditure obligations of different levels of government. A stable and meaningful decentralization requires an unambiguous and well defined institutional framework in the assignment of expenditure responsibilities among the different levels of government together with the sufficient budgetary autonomy to carry out the assigned responsibil