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Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations was first published in 1956. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. This volume is number 8 in a series of monographs edited by William Anderson and Edward W. Weidner on intergovernmental relations in the United States as observed in the state of Minnesota. Topics discussed include: the financial problems of a federal system; Minnesota's place and rank in the union; the financial relationship between Minnesota and the nation from 1783 to 1953; the respective financial powers of Minnesota and the nation; national and state taxes in Minnesota; federal grants-in-aid as a revenue source; the national-state fiscal balance; state-local revenue relations; and state payments to local governments

Conventionally, the Chinese fiscal and revenue collection system has been highly centralized with almost no-taxation power for local governments as well as control over their budget. Local governments have been bound to remit most of the taxes to central government who in turn transferred it back to them in accordance with their needs and requirements. In the year 1980, Fiscal Contracting System (FCS) was introduced to decentralize the fiscal scheme by adopting some features of Western Market-Economy. It proved economical because by administering the local affairs at local level weigh down the fiscal burden at part of the central government. The evaluation of the inter-regional fiscal system reflects that the FCS has brought substantial fiscal autonomy for sub-national governments which enabled them to expand their contribution towards national economic growth through remitting fix share to national exchequer. The whole tax system was categorized into three levels: central, regional, and joint central/regional level taxes while the inheriting principle of dual supervision has made local governments accountable to the higher levels. But contradiction between theory and practice of Chinese governance pertaining to intergovernmental fiscal relations is particularly posturing immense challenges for establishment of a transparent and equitable fiscal system.Â

This paper reviews the fiscal relations between the three levels of government in Austria and points to the scope for reforming them with a view to improving the efficiency of the public sector. Key areas of public sector activity are subject to complex relations across the three layers of government. Fragmentation of decision-making in some spending programmes, such as hospital care and social assistance benefits, needs to be overcome, concentrating financing and spending responsibilities on one government level. Strengthening co-operation between municipalities as well as amalgamations of small municipalities would allow advantage to be taken of scale economies in the provision of local government services. Stronger tax-raising powers of the municipalities and the states, reform of tax sharing rules and improved budgeting procedures would raise the ability of sub-national governments to match the supply of services to local demand patters and improve accountability to voters. This Working Paper relates to the 2005 OECD Economic Survey of Austria (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/austria)

The local government in the West Bank and Gaza has its origins in the middle of the last century (UNDP-PAPP 2003). The design of the legal framework and administrative systems were based not on local needs but mainly on the requirements of the Ottoman Empire, British Mandate, Jordanian era in the West Bank, Egyptian military rules in Gaza Strip, and Israeli occupation all of which were concerned more with security than with developmental aspirations of its constituency. Local government laws were therefore designed mainly to maintain the central control and to provide the minimum of the public goods at the local level. Meaningful decentralisation in the sense of a democratic representation in local governance was not a policy objective until the Palestinian Authority (hereafter the PA) was established (Al-Araj 1998). The local government units, the Ministry of Local Government and the donor community show a growing interest on issues related to fiscal and administrative decentralisation. Many workshops have been organised in recent years to discuss different aspects of fiscal decentralisation, but to our knowledge none in-depth studies have been conducted. In an earlier joint paper Fjeldstad and Zagha (2002) discussed the factors explaining the tax system in the PA. In this respect, it was found that the limited trustworthiness in the PA was closely linked to citizens' perceptions of the capacity of the PA to make credible commitments about the use of tax revenues and foreign aid, as well as its procedures for designing and implementing fiscal policy non-arbitrarily. Moreover, the study found that extensive and increasing corruption contributed to undermine popular confidence in the PA as a credible force in the struggle against the Israeli occupation. These findings have implicitly implications for policies to devolve fiscal and administrative powers. Local authorities are the branch of the government which is 'closest' to the citizens. Hence, it is perceived that the strengthening of local authorities represents an important building block in the peace process, as well as in the Palestinian state formation process. Political and administrative reforms are still underway in the PA (ARD 2000a, 2000b; C3 Management and Economic Consulting, Adam Smith Institute and Center for Continuing Education at Birzeit University: Project on Public Administration and Civil Service Reform 2003-2006). An important challenge facing these reforms is related to the resourcing of local authorities, including the establishment of credible and transparent intergovernmental fiscal relations. Sabri and Jaber (2006), pointed out that the relations between local governments and ministry of finance are the most significant issue in the Palestinian local authorities