Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Fiscal Federalism

Definition of Fiscal Federalism
It is concerned with the division of economic responsibilities between the Central and State and local govt.

Meaning of Fiscal Federalism
The govt can classified as :
a) Unitary system - All the governing power resides in a centralized govt. eg: UK
b) Federal system - The power to govern is shared between central, state and local govt.( Fiscal decentralization) eg: India

Key Issues in Fiscal Federalism
1 Division of responsibilities and resources-
Who makes the decisions about the programmes? Who pays for the programme?
involves financing, regulation and administration
Central govt. provide public goods like defence

2 Regulation-
Constitution restricts state and local govt
state and local govt subject to pollution and env regulations which apply to private firms

3 Incentives for resource transfer-
Central govt. grants and loans to state- leads to disparity in allocation
Types of transfer- Conditional & unconditional

4 Tax expenditure-
Sharing of central tax revenues with the states

5 Tax competition-
Local govt. use tax incentives to attract business- gains in one locality at the expense of losses in other

6 National and local Public goods-
eg: national defence benefits to all
eg: traffic lights benefits to particular locality
Not pure public goods.

7 Tax subsidies-
leads to increased expdt on publicly provided goods and increased capital invst
inefficient due to: wealthy investors, business, discriminate strong preference

8 Fiscal imbalance-
lack of harmony between functions and financial resources
mechanism to even out shortages and surpluses

FISCAL FEDERALISM IN INDIA
A] Division of functions
countrywide tasks to centre and state whereas local imp. to municipalities and panchayats
CG:development functions and non development
SG:development functions and non development
Jurisdiction:
defence uniformly
benefits economies of scale
foreign trade require national agenda
agriculture region to region
Problems:
overlapping -education and health
centrally sponsored schemes dont benefit targeted groups


B] Division of resource raising powers 
Receipts of CG: Revenue receipts( taxes on income, property, commodities) non tax and capital receipts( IMF)

Receipts of SG: Revenue receipts ( tax on agri, profession, capital) non tax and capital receipts ( loans)

Criterion for division of tax powers: depends on
tax base- personal income
production- union excise duty, sale/ purchase
entry of goods- octroi duty
weakness-- agri and nonagri income, sales tax

Financial imbalance: in favour of Centre

Trf of resources from Centre to State: tax proceeds, grants n loans, plan assistance


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