More Tinkering with Local Government Finance

by

“Adopting a strategic approach to local government structure, functions and finance, this article demonstrates how the need for intergovernmental transfers can be minimised and financial autonomy restored to local governments. It argues that central government pays unnecessarily large transfers to local authorities, with the result that the various revenue sources are ‘back to front’ and contrary to the Council of Europe’s European Charter of Local Self-Government.”

This article provides a critical appraisal of the recent consultation papers on local government finance for England and Scotland. Neither consultation paper considers how the need for the provision of public finance from central to local governments can be minimised.

Published in Local Government Studies | S. Bailey | 2003, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/More-Tinkering-with-Local-Government-Finance-Bailey/3036a894b23c6ffa4b0397f5e2ce2df14953a07b, https://consensus.app/details/adopting-approach-government-structure-functions-bailey/043bdd65118a5989ab4f67df3da771f3/


Related posts:

  1. Financing Local Government “Decentralisation is now taking place in the public administrations of most countries of the world. A critical determinant of the effective performance of local governments is finance – their ability to both mobilise financial resources and to use those resources...
  2. The reform of local government structure in Wales: A critique of the case for unitary authorities “The Welsh Office has proposed that local government in Wales be restructured to produce a system of 20 unitary authorities based on the boundaries of the existing 37 district councils. All eight of the Welsh county councils will be abolished....
  3. The politics of local government autonomy in Nigeria reloaded “The study concludes that local government is a unique political structure and the degree of autonomy it enjoys from federal or regional or state government is congruent with the politics of the state. Consequently, there is no grand theory of...
  4. Local Governance in China: Incentives & Tensions “This article argues that the structure of central-local relations leads local governments to discount the interests of residents on the one hand, and distort central policies to the benefit of the local government on the other. The “party manages the...
  5. Principles and Theories of Local Government “The role of local government is viewed in the context of the overall role of government per se. A particular advantage of local government lies in its ability to arrange for the provision of local public goods in line with...
  6. What are the Local Political Costs of Centrally Determined Reforms of Local Government? “Taking advantage of a quasi-experimental setting and drawing upon analysis of electoral results and a survey of voters, this article explores the political costs of reform through the example of the 2009 local elections in Denmark. The article finds that...
  7. Local government in practice: evidence from two villages in northern Albania. “The article concludes that local government has been undervalued and argues for greater attention to be focused on the nexus composed of citizens and the institutions of government which are closest to them.” This article examines how local government operated...
  8. Running The Big Smoke: A Critical Analysis of the KPMG (2008) Approach to Local Government Reform in the Sydney Metropolitan Area “Following a critique of the current local governance arrangements in the greater Sydney metropolitan area by Blakely and Hu (2007), an alternative approach to the status quo has been advocated in Governance Arrangements for Sydney’s Local Government Authorities (KPMG, 2008)....
  9. Liberal Justifications for Local Government in Britain: The Triumph of Expediency over Ethics “It is shown in this article how theories justifying local government in Britain are largely based on the expedience of providing administrative efficiency or stable democracy for the central state rather than ethical grounds that justify local government as an...
  10. Evaluating the best value framework in UK local government services “The article describes an exploratory multiple case research study and shows that the imposition of Best Value in local government must recognise the complexity and diversity within local government services, rather than adopting an inflexible approach to deployment. There is...