Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Introduzione. – 2. La teoria economica del federalismo fiscale. – 3. I primi tentativi di comparazione dei sistemi di finanza federale. – 4. L’influenza della teoria economica sui modelli di analisi del federalismo. – 5. Dalla finanza federale al federalismo fiscale. – 6. Federalismo fiscale e diritto pubblico comparato.

Abstract

The economic theory of fiscal federalism lays out a universal normative framework for the assignment of function to different levels of government. This theory argues that the federal government should have the responsibility for stabilisation and redistribution functions, whereas the decentralised governments should provision goods and services to their territories. Comparative law studies of federal finance started off with The Federalist Papers, but the problem of the distribution of financial resources began to attract attention in the Twentieth Century. In this period federal solutions became very popular. As a result, many democratic contemporary unitary states, such as federal states, are now decentralized. Fiscal decentralisation is in vogue and comparative studies are effected by economic theories of fiscal federalism. Comparative literature claims that unitary states can be more fiscally decentralised than federal states. Nevertheless, the primary objective of this paper is not to minimize differences of both kinds of states in allocating financial powers.Most constitutions specify the revenue-raising powers of the different levels of government. However, the expenditure responsibilities are broader than the enumerated legislative and administrative jurisdictions. The comparative method can help scholars of public law to explore the virtues of different fiscal instruments in different state forms.