This paper analyzes how minimum local property tax rates affect local tax policy choice. In Finland, central government has raised the limits on property tax rates several times in the past 30 years. I construct a measure of forced tax rate increases caused by these reforms and examine how...

In a political agency model, we study the effect of introducing a less transparent tax tool for the financing of local governments. We show that lower quality politicians would use more the less transparent tax tool to enhance their probability of re-election. This prediction is tested by...

This paper uses a Finnish policy intervention to study tax competition among local governments. Changes in the statutory lower limits to the property tax rates are used as a source of exogenous variation to estimate the responses of municipalities to tax rates in their neighbouring...

This paper uses a Finnish policy intervention to study tax competition among local governments. Changes in the statutory lower limits to the property tax rates are used as a source of exogenous variation to estimate the responses of municipalities to tax rates in their neighboring...

The objectives of the paper are to compare the development of the legally granted municipal autonomy regarding the property tax in the Czech Republic and Slovakia since 1993 and its real implementation in 2011 and to evaluate the impacts of the municipal autonomy regulation on municipal...

Many previous studies have examined the level of state grants to local K-12 school districts. However, these studies have not considered the role of citizen "trust" in state versus local governments as a factor. We hypothesize that the role of the state in funding education reflects citizen...

This paper analyzes the impact of decentralization on overall fiscal performance in the European Union, taking into account fiscal institutional arrangements. We find that spending decentralization has been associated with sizably better fiscal performance, especially when transfer dependency of...

From to beginning of year 2002, the Spanish Autonomous Communities (CC. AA.) fiscal performance is conditioned by a new legal framework compounded from the financial agreement and the legislation on budget stability. This new framework implies a change in the CC. AA. fiscal behaviour. Are the...

Recent theoretical research suggests that financing sub-national governments’ expenditure out of own revenue sources is linked to more responsible budgeting, because the financial implications of spending decisions then are internalized within a jurisdiction. We test this proposition...

Recent theoretical research suggests that financing sub-national governments’ expenditure out of own revenue sources is linked to more responsible budgeting, because the financial implications of spending decisions then are internalized within a jurisdiction. We test this proposition...