1. Object and Method of This Study
Government of Gun rely for most of their revenue upon grants in aid from the central government. This financial dependence upon grants, aggravated by the sectionalism of the departments of the central government, in...
1. Object and Method of This Study
Government of Gun rely for most of their revenue upon grants in aid from the central government. This financial dependence upon grants, aggravated by the sectionalism of the departments of the central government, infringes upon independent local administration. I have tried to find a way to improve this status by scrutinizing the statistical data and interviewing local government employees.
2. Trend of the Level of Local Financial Self-Reliance
From 1964 to 1970 the percentage of locally-raised revenue in Guns has decreased from 67% to 17%, while in large cities the rate has kept almost the same level. This was caused by the imbalance in economic growth between rural areas and large cities; thus the slow growth of revenue from local taxation in the Gun could not keep pace with the rapid expansion of its expenditure. This trend will continue in the future unless the economic situation of the rural areas is fundamentally changed.
3. Some Devices to Increase Local Tax Revenue
Prevailing discussions for the devices to increase the revenue from local taxation can be classified into two groups:
1) transforming some of national taxations into local taxation.
2) raising the rates of local taxations or levying new local taxations.
However, analysis of the data shows that neither of these devices will be successful because of the lack of sources of national or local taxation.
4. Reformation of Local Share Taxation
For the above-mentioned reasons, Gun government finance is inevitably obliged to depend upon aid from the central government. However, grants from the central government with attached strings of supervision harm the independence of local administration Therefore local share taxation in support of general purposes is preferable to grants. But the present system of local share taxation is inadequate for estimating the level of expenditure necessary for local administration.
5. Conclusion
As a conclusion I propose that a committee for local development planning, and a review commission be established at each level of the government to prepare a plan for local development and to estima te the necessary expenditure.
This system will help promote the independence of local fincnce.