Research in Public Financial Pressure of Local Government -The Case of Tainan County (1992-2008)

• Main Authors: Pen Fang, 方盆
• Other Authors: Pei-Shan Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/40259142433500803269

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 政治學所 === 98 === Due to the lack of financial sources, local governments must finance their infrastructures from various bonds issued in addition to appropriated subsidies from the central government. For the past years, the difference between annual revenues and expenditures can’t be reduced effectively and has accumulated a huge amount of deficits. Such shortage has affected transfer of government treasury. The short-term bonds in response to the imminent financial needs have led to the rapidly grown outstanding long-term and short-term debts and have hence jeopardized the financial stability. All these require an in-depth observation, evaluation and prudent correspondence. In order to promote the local accountability and to fulfill the local self-government, local financial issues should be resolved in three folds: revenue, expenditure and adjustment. In the aspect of revenue, local governments should raise more financial resources actively: improve the efficiency of tax levy, reinforce the collection of any taxes and fines, take budget strategy to increase financial efficiency so that it could relieve public funding pressure, dedicate to the operation performance of public product funds, effectuate local constructions with surplus, and seek and pursue various new financial sources. In the aspect of expenditure, it is better to distinct expenditures between central and local governments, implement the government re-engineering construction, avoid unnecessary wastes, set privatization of public-held enterprises into action, encourage the private sector’s participation in the public affairs to mitigate the expenditure of local governments as well as to facilitate the economic efficiency of resources. In the aspect of allocation, in addition to establish a justifiable and transparent subvention system and central-controlled tax redistribution formula to adjust the financial condition and improve the financial inequality, it is also necessary to expand the local right of involvement in the central policy/decision-making process. Finally, local governments ought to cooperate with the central government to amend the relevant laws and regulations such as Administrative Division Law, Local Government Act, Government Revenue and Expenditure Jurisdiction Demarcation Act, The Public Debt Act, the Central Government Subsidy to Municipality and County (City) Governments Regulations, and the Regulations for the Distribution of Centrally-Allotted Tax Revenues to structure a justifiable and good administrative division and financial division. Before the amendments to the foregoing laws and regulations completed, except for increasing income and decreasing expenditure actively, it is also necessary to avoid selfish departmentalism in urging the law amendments hastily to fulfill the aim of financial augmentation. This study reaps some conclusions which may be useful for related governmental departments while dealing with financial issues. It is expected that the balance between the law and the practice of budget can be reached so that local governments thereby obtain the financial soundness and sustainable development. The following are recommended: 1. The central government approves the grant amount for the basic financial deficit. In the event that the amount is less than the actual disbursement recorded in the local government’s final account, the differences (deficits) would be expanded, and it should be designated by the central government in advance to make up accumulated deficits. 2. The calculation of basic financial demands should consist of the interest payment to the privileged savings accounts held by public servants and the central mandatory social welfare appropriations. 3. The government organization restructuring and manpower streamlining should be outsourced to cut down the payroll cost. 4. Article 38 and its subdivisions of the Government Revenue and Expenditure Jurisdiction Demarcation Act should be executed effectively to decrease the frequency that the Central Government bills are paid by local governments. 5. Make good use of private resources. 6. The loan cap of local government should be decreased year by year to ease off the interest burden. 7. The schedule of accumulated balance of outstanding debts should be prepared as a necessary document when reviewing the budget. 8. Article 8 of the Public Debt Act should be amended to make the loan cap of the government (may not exceed fifteen percent of the annual expenditures on the general budgets) be exempt from that limit. 9. Fulfill the monitor and punishment mechanism of laws and regulations. 10. Except for momentous nation-wide projects, central government should gradually cancel subsidies designated to specific items such as the general social welfare, education facilities, local infrastructures so that local government could have more autonomy to allocate those resources. 11. The expropriation of public construction benefit charges should be restarted to facilitate local prosperity. 12. The relevant laws should be made to regulate the financial responsibility of local top-administrators