A New Revenue Sharing Act and a New Stability Pact for Austria – No Fundamental Changes
The new Austrian domestic Stability Pact aims at the achievement of a zero deficit until 2008. At the federal level, the Maastricht-relevant deficit is to be reduced to 0.75 percent of GDP, states and municipalities together are obliged to obtain a surplus of 0.75 percent of GDP in 2008. The new revenue sharing agreement will not change fiscal relations fundamentally. The weight of shared federal taxes will increase; most of them will be distributed according to uniform revenue shares. The revenues of the smallest municipalities from the horizontal apportionment of shared federal taxes will increase. The states' strong dependency on intergovernmental transfers will not be reduced, the tax autonomy of the subnational levels of government will remain low.
The Draft Federal Budget for 2006: Key Features and Trends in a Longer-Term Perspective
The draft federal budget for 2006 is shaped by the impact of the 2004-05 tax reform and the persistence of high unemployment. The deficits (in the Maastricht definition) in the general as well as in the federal government households will therefore narrow only to a limited extent. Expenditure and revenue continue to fall as a ratio of GDP, both for the central and the general government. The share of transfer payments in total federal spending is rising once again, with family benefits posting the strongest increase. Since 2000, emphasis on the expenditure side has also been given to infrastructure and research. On the revenue side, one-off measures are losing in importance over time. The longer-term trend towards greater reliance on indirect tax revenues is becoming somewhat flatter in 2006.
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Public Spending in Finland
Finland is committed to high quality and extensive public services and a high level of income redistribution. The heavy tax burden these commitments require is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain due to tax competition and the need to harmonise certain taxes with other EU countries. These pressures on taxation combined with the fiscal effects of rapid ageing imply a need for continued restraint of aggregate expenditure and a need for further efficiency gains in the provision of public services. This paper, one of a series of OECD reviews on public expenditure, looks at how Finland is coping with this challenge. It concludes that the fundamental framework guiding public expenditure in Finland is sound. And, in many areas of public activity the country compares very favourably internationally. However, recent slippage in fiscal discipline needs to be addressed. Also it will be important to monitor, and if necessary follow up on, reforms of pensions and early retirement ... Renforcer l'efficacite des depenses publiques en Finlande La Finlande est foncierement attachee a une offre tres diversifiee de services publics de haute qualite et a une forte redistribution des revenus. La pression fiscale qu’impose cet attachement est de plus en plus difficile a tenir, non seulement pour des raisons d’efficience, mais aussi du fait de la concurrence fiscale et de la necessite d’harmoniser certains impots avec les autres pays de l’Union europeenne. Du fait de ces contraintes pesant sur la fiscalite, auxquelles s’ajoutent les consequences budgetaires de l’acceleration du vieillissement de la population, il faut freiner en permanence l’ensemble des depenses publiques et poursuivre l’effort d’efficacite dans l’offre des services publics. Le present document de travail, qui s’inscrit dans la serie des examens que l’OCDE consacre aux depenses publiques, traite de la reponse de la Finlande a ce defi. Il conclut a la solidite du cadre fondamental des depenses publiques en Finlande. Et, dans de nombreux domaines de l’action ...