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.
¿Entre dos o entre todos? Examen y propuestas para la coordinación presupuestaria en España
El trabajo analiza los mecanismos de coordinacion presupuestaria en Espana, con especial atencion a las Comunidades Autonomas. Se evalua en particular la ultima reforma de la normativa de estabilidad presupuestaria de 2006. Los resultados muestran una eficacia general agregada en terminos de reduccion del deficit publico, si bien son muy destacables algunos desbordamientos individuales en ciertas Comunidades Autonomas. La crisis economica ha puesto a prueba la normativa de estabilidad presupuestaria y, por ello, se propone avanzar hacia un nuevo marco, mas flexible pero igualmente eficaz.
Fiscal Transparency in EU Accession Countries Progress and Future Challenges
This paper discusses the findings of fiscal transparency reports on standards and codes (ROSCs) for most EU accession candidate countries. Emphasis is given to the need to establish effective and accountable medium-term budget frameworks to establish policy credibility and anchor adjustment programs to meet EU fiscal goals. Adoption of budgeting and accounting standards consistent with the IMF Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 framework will also help link budget decisions to EU standards of fiscal reporting. More consistent and comprehensive coverage of off-budget activities is needed for assessing fiscal risk and sustainability. Finally, local government issues need to be addressed by many of these countries since EU fiscal goals are set with reference to general government. Progress in all of these areas can be monitored by keeping fiscal ROSC assessments up to date.