Municipalities revenue autonomy in the Baltic countries

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Autonomijos rodyklė; Baltijos šalys (Baltic states); Fiskalinė decentralizacija; Pajamų autonomija; Vietinė valdžia; Autonomy Index; Baltic countries; Fiscal decentralization; Local Government; Revenue autonomy.

ENFiscal decentralization phenomenon is highly discussed at various levels and aspects, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Eng. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, hereinafter - the OECD) gives it an extreme attention as well as the World Bank. Fiscal decentralization has become an interesting topic until today because researchers about fiscal decentralization are not only considered from the economic perspective, but also from other perspectives such as politic, geographic, other subjects. The article object – local government revenue autonomy of Baltic countries. The aim of this article is to analyse the theoretical aspect of fiscal decentralization, calculate the index of revenue autonomy in Baltic countries. Three Baltic States similar in their area, number of inhabitants, and governmental peculiarities have been chosen for the analysis. This paper compares the three Baltic countries that formally became independent from the Soviet Union in September 1991: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The research methods employed in preparation of this article are theoretical methods of analysis of scientific literature and sources, SAW method for index, comparative and logical analysis and generalisation. The lowest revenue autonomy index of local government of Baltic countries has Lithuania (0.27), the highest – Latvia (0.49). If the revenue autonomy index is near 1, it is mean that local government has a big power to control own revenue. [From the publication]

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