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Lyudmil Naydenov
Inter-Jurisdictional Tax Competition – the Bulgarian Case
Summary:
The paper highlights the specific features of inter-jurisdictional tax competition, and the related positive effects and risks. It analyzes the tax policy of the Bulgarian local authorities and discusses the factors limiting the inter-jurisdictional tax competition in our country. On the basis of specific data on the dynamics of the rates of key local taxes, it is argued that there is lack of a targeted policy of attracting and retaining a tax base through the manipulation of tax rates. It is concluded that the tax rates of the local taxes in Bulgaria are most often at the average of the legally defined upper and lower limits. It is supported that the low value of the ratio Revenues and aids in the municipal budgets / GDP does not motivate entrepreneurs to invest in a particular jurisdiction because of the differences in the absolute amount of local taxes.
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Hasan Azis
QUALITY AND PERSPECTIVES
FOR DEVELOPMENT
OF THE ADMINISTRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PROCESS OF DECENTRALIZATION IN GREECE
Summary:
The study aims to determine the progress of the central and municipal administrations and their attitudes towards the process of decentralization in Greece; their competences and attitudes regarding decentralization; the degree of completion of decentralization; and the enhancement of the qualification of the central and municipal administrations. The study is based on a questionnaire which included questions regarding the opinion and the attitudes of the administration towards the process decentralization in Greece. The survey was conducted with 95 civil servants. The results outline certain difficulties in the decentralization process as well as ways to overcome them.
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Mariyana Pavlova Banova
FISCAL DECENTRALISATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA – FINANCIAL EFFECTS AND REGIONAL ASPECTS
Summary:
Fiscal decentralization, which aims to enhance local au¬to¬no¬my in terms of transferring rights, obligations and duties from a gover¬n¬men¬tal to a municipal level, needs to ensure the efficient exploitation of public resources and the provision of high-quality public services at the optimum cost. Changes in local govern¬ment which have been going on for two decades now raise the issue of the results which have been achieved in this respect so far. The objective of this paper is to study the degree of decentralization of the public sector in Bul-garia and to assess the financial independence, investment activity and effi-ciency of selected municipalities in Bulgaria.
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Mariyana Pavlova Banova
FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION IN EUROPE: EFFECTS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’ FISCAL AUTONOMY
Summary:
The European Charter of Local Self-Government, which was ratified by almost all European member states, provides for the decentralization of power and the transfer of competences and financial resources to local communities as well as extends local authorities’ tax collection and budgetary spending responsibilities. In reality, however, the increased spending responsibilities and the limited self-financing powers of the municipalities in our country raise the question of the degree of their dependence on the cen¬tral government. This paper presents a survey which aims to measure and assess the degree of tax autonomy of local governments in Bulgaria compared to their counterparts from other EU member states by means of a set of indicators and thus to determine one of the effects of fiscal decentralization – lo¬cal self-government’s tax autonomy.
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Nikolay Todorov
THE JAPANESE MODEL OF TRANSITION TO A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Summary:
The article focuses on the most important stages of enforcement and implementation of the principles of circular economy in Japan in terms of the reasons for and the consequences from the emergence and development of the circular resource-saving model in the country. It discusses the transition to an environment-friendly economic model, its importance for people’s health and relevance to the needs of the modern society. The systematic role of Japan’s regulatory framework is considered in terms of the implementation of a cyclical environment-friendly economic model and policies intended to strengthen public-private partnerships and promote the circular economy among a wide range of stakeholders. It also discusses the application of the ISO14001 international standard in Japan and presents several indicative circular business models successfully implemented in Japanese companies.
