Finansiranje subcentralnih nivoa vlasti u Republici Srbiji

Abstract

The institutional collapse of a once unique state SFR Yugoslavia at the beginning of the 1990s, devastated economy, hyperinflation, corruption and general tendencies contrary to the processes in developed countries, in a nutshell - the entire macroeconomic environment being unstable, - brought about the need for political, economic, social and institutional reforms in the Republic of Serbia. The reform, among other things, and for the study of the factual issues it is exceptionally significant, covered the system of resource distribution and jurisdiction between the central and subcentral levels of government. Numerous changes which then occurred in the last twenty years or so, and which are still going on, have influenced political and territorial polity of our country to become decentralized, as well as the financial and fiscal relations between the levels of the Establishment. In the spirit of reform commitments, Republic of Serbia brought in a new Constitution and adopted copious amounts of laws, whose ultimate intention was promoting the fiscal system that would be in accordance with the latest theoretical findings and examples of good practice. In the structure of territorial organization of Republic of Serbia, autonomous provinces as entities of territorial autonomy, and municipalities, towns and the city of Belgrade have been established, as entities of local self-governance. Otherwise, subcentral authority levels in our country are facing many and various challenges when it comes to creating government revenue which, in its original or transferred form, remains available, used to finance their government expenditure, a constant need for their abundance and suitability, and all in order to constitute financial autonomy, followed by methods of governing the economic development, as well as the volume and content of jurisdiction. Considering the fact that the distribution of resources amongst sub-central levels of government is preceded by the distribution of responsibilities, associated is the dilemma of which functions are realized more efficiently on a central and which on a subcentral level of government, and further, to what extent these lower levels are to be subservient to the central state, that is, in what sense independent. In that matter, it is essential to establish the extent of the realized fiscal decentralization, since depending on that degree, fiscal power is delegated to subcentral levels, the performance of public services is more efficient and is in accordance with priorities and preferences of citizens, which is also a precondition of successful functioning of all the segments of the public sector and widespread democratization of a society.