This OECD Policy Paper combines insights from the cross-country research work of the Network on Fiscal Relations across Levels of Government and country experiences drawn from OECD Economic Surveys. The paper identifies a range of good practices on the design of country policies and institutions related to strengthening fiscal capacity, delineating responsibilities across levels of government and improving intergovernmental co-ordination. A revised version of this paper will appear in the next volume of Fiscal Federalism.
Read moreThe Korean Presidential Committee on Autonomy and Decentralisation and the Fiscal Network organised a Conference on Inclusiveness and Decentralisation on 27-28 October 2020 in Seoul, Korea. The objective of the Conference was to review the current state of fiscal decentralisation and policy implications from OECD countries' experiences and explore future reform actions. An MoU for future co-operation was signed with the OECD.
Read moreThe OECD Fiscal Federalism Series presents policy analysis of, and statistics about, intergovernmental fiscal relations and state/regional and local public finance. It draws on the work of the OECD Network on Fiscal Relations across Government Levels and of other OECD bodies covering these areas.
Read moreThe OECD Network on Fiscal Relations across Levels of Government provides analysis and statistical underpinnings on the relationship between central and subcentral government, and its impact on efficiency, equity and macroeconomic stability.
NEWS & EVENTS
15th Annual Meeting of the OECD Network on Fiscal Relations Across Levels of Government, 2-3 December 2019
Ageing and long-term challenges across levels of government
Second High-level Roundtable in India on Fiscal Relations
Selected publications
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Local Public Finance and Capacity Building in Asia: Issues and Challenges Subnational governments’ capacity to effectively fund and deliver public services are crucial for the realisation of the benefits of decentralisation. However, subnational capacities often suffer from significant weaknesses, ranging from inadequate assignments of own-revenues, through to flaws in tax administration, the design of intergovernmental transfers, spending assignments and various aspects of public financial management. |
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Ageing and Fiscal Challenges across Levels of Government Populations in OECD and emerging economies are ageing rapidly, which will have significant macroeconomic impacts, including on public expenditures and tax revenues. The rules and practices that govern fiscal relations among different levels of government, such as their responsibilities for taxation, spending and debt management, have a bearing on economic efficiency and ultimately growth. The consequences of population ageing at subnational government levels are especially intense. Many local governments are vulnerable to the ageing of their populations from a fiscal perspective. The economic and fiscal challenges of an ageing population go beyond intergovernmental boundaries, and they require complex intergovernmental policy responses. This volume brings together cross-country studies of fiscal policy, demographics and spatial productivity, as well as country studies of Brazil, Canada, China and Germany. |
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Digitalisation challenges and opportunities for subnational governments The world economy and societies are going through a digital transformation that goes well beyond computerisation and use of information and telecommunications technologies. This transformation is creating opportunities and challenges for all levels of government in the areas of tax and expenditure policy and administration, service delivery and fiscal-financial management, and regulatory practices and policies. However, governments (especially sub-national ones, SNGs) often also face shortages of skills, equipment and physical infrastructure, while having to address emerging challenges in cyber security risk management and data protection. The digital transformation calls for cooperation among the different layers of administration in support of effective and efficient digitalisation of SNGs. This paper reviews and discusses these opportunities and challenges. |
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Twenty years of tax autonomy across levels of government The Network on Fiscal Relations has been assessing the degree of sub-central government tax autonomy in OECD countries for almost two decades. This paper provides an in-depth description of the methodology used to characterise tax autonomy. After summarizing the wide-spread use of the tax autonomy results by researchers addressing a range of policy issues, the paper highlights recent trends in sub-central government revenues and presents the results of the latest survey of tax autonomy, completed in 2017. Using the OECD’s tax autonomy methodology, the paper for the first time assesses local government tax autonomy in the 50 US states. The analysis reveals that US local governments have somewhat more tax autonomy than local governments in the average OECD country. The paper includes suggestions for further refinements of the tax autonomy methodology. |
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