Latvian local government financial equalization: actual situation, problems and opportunities | Latvijas pašvaldību finanšu izlīdzināšana: reālā situācija, problēmas un iespējas

لاتفيا. Raksta mērķis ir pamatot pašvaldību finanšu izlīdzināšanas sistēmas pastāvēšanas nepieciešamību pēc Administratīvi teritoriālās reformas pabeigšanas. Izvirzītā mērķa sasniegšanai raksta autores izanalizēja vairākus pašvaldību finanšu spēju ietekmējošus faktorus. Rakstā tiek izdarīti secinājumi par pašvaldību finanšu izlīdzināšanas sistēmas nepieciešamību Latvijā, jo starp pašvaldībām pastāv krasas ekonomiskas, demogrāfiskas un ģeogrāfiskas atšķirības, kā arī izteikti priekšlikumi indeksēt valsts dotāciju ar kādu budžeta pieauguma rādītāju un regulāri izvērtēt pašvaldību finanšu izlīdzināšanas sistēmas atbilstību faktiskajai situācijai.

إنجليزي. The goal of the article is to fortify the necessity of financial equalization system after finishing of Administrative territorial reform. To achieve this goal, on the basis of the forecasts of local municipalities’ revenues (personal income tax and real estate tax) for 2011, authors of the article had analyzed influence of the population age structure, industrialization, specialization of the economy and geographical location on the capability of municipalities finances. In the article the importance of government subsidies in the municipality finance equalization system is analyzed and the suggestion is to index this subsidy with some indicator, which shows the increase of government budget. The formula how to calculate the subsidy for the next year government budget is offered. The article is also about Latvia municipalities’ finances and municipalities’ attitude to finance equalization fund. The analysis of municipalities finance equalization level in Latvia is done (the indicator, which is used, is estimated revenues per capita before and after municipality finance equalization). The additional explanation of government subsidy and its comparison with the previous year’s indicators is given. In the article the advice regularly to evaluate the conformity to real situation is given, as well as the conclusion is that the finance equalization system is necessary for Latvia, because it is used partly to equalize differences of municipalities finances, in such way it provides equalization of revenues (to increase available resources for financially weaker municipalities) and expenditures (to increase available resources for those municipalities, that have extra duties and expenditures because of geographical location, demographical situation, economical activity or others). In such way municipalities will have equal possibilities to realize the functions defined by laws.