ISSN 1027-0353
African Journal of Political Science ISSN 3461-2165 Vol. 10 (6), pp. 001-016, June, 2016. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Fiscal solidarity: Key benefits and pitfalls for Spain to lower their fiscal conflicts
Jan Werner
Institute of Local Public Finance, Schumannstraße 29, 63225 Langen, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
Accepted 22 February, 2016
Abstract
On December 6th, 1978 the Spanish population implemented its new constitution by means of a referendum and finalised the transition process from the Franco regime to a modern democracy based on a parliamentary monarchy. In the next 30 years the fiscal power and the expenditure autonomy of the 17 regions, called Comunidades autónomas, increased constantly. But on the other hand, in some regions – mainly in the Catalan and the Basque regions – the demand for complete sovereignty has also become stronger, while the central government is currently unwilling to delegate any additional tax sovereignty to the regions. Therefore, this paper presents the German equalization system among the states and concludes with some policy implications to reduce the ill feelings between the central government and its respective regional counterparts in Spain.
Key word: Fiscal federalism, Spain, sub-national finance, Germany.