Research On The Fiscal Operation Of The County Level Based On The Province Governing In Jilin Province

Fiscal decentralization means granting local governments the power of levying taxes and that of expenditure, and allowing them to make independent decisions on the scales and structures of budgetary expenditures, hence they may freely choose the types of policies most appropriate to their needs and participate actively in social management in order to provide more and better service. Almost in every country the government system is divided into different levels and proper fiscal relations are established among governments at all levels. An important goal of the central government is to allocate the powers to achieve the coordinated development of the regional economy, and it is also a major issue concerning the political and economic development. Fiscal decentralization has been applied in practice for a long time all over the world. The fiscal relationship of the central government and local governments is also a major topic of study in economics. And various researches have been conducted in fiscal decentralization by different economists.County finance is the basis of a nation, the operation of which is directly related to the development of the county economy and the stability of local regimes. It has great effect on the operation of the public finance of the state, the sustainable development of economy and the harmony and stability of society. Ever since the reform and opening up, with the sustained and rapid development of the national economy, the overall situation is growing favourably. But the financial situations at the county level are still in difficulty. Though in recent years, the central and local governments have taken a series of measures, which have obtained some effects, the financial problems at the county level have not been completely resolved.The financial management system of Jilin Province is on the whole synchronous with that of the nation. The management system has undergone changes during the past few decades. From 1980 to 2000, the financial management system of Jilin Province is that the provincial government governed municipalities as well as counties. From 2000 to June 2005, the financial management system is the provincial government governing municipalities, while the municipal governments governing counties. In order to strengthen the authority of counties and accelerate their economic development, the financial management system was resumed as the provincial government governing the municipalities and the counties, i.e. the financial system of provincially affiliated counties.After the implementation of the financial system of provincial government governing counties, there have been many concerns in the government officials and scholars as to how much the county finance has improve, whether existing problems have been resolved, what other problems there are in the present system, and what measures should be taken. This thesis aims to study the present state of the financial operation in the system of the provincially affiliated counties in Jilin Province, which is of theoretically significant for the policy making of the provincial government, as well as practically significant for the better financial operation of the provincially affiliated counties.In addition to introduction and conclusion, the thesis consists of four major chapters.Chapter One provides a general review of the basic theories of fiscal decentralization. The discussion is conducted from three aspects: fiscal decentralization and the allocative efficiency of public resources, fiscal decentralization and the government scale, and fiscal decentralization and the function assignments of governments.Chapter Two is an analysis of the situation of the financial system before the implementation of the system of the provincial government governing the counties. In this chapter, the thesis first describes the general situation, and then provides a profound analysis of the problems and explains the necessity of implementing the system of the provincial government governing the counties.Chapter Three is the study of the financial situation of the count government after the implementation of the provincial government governing the counties. It contains the following three parts: the contents of system of the provincial government governing the counties; the general situation of financial operation of the county governments; and the problems in the present system.Chapter Four discusses the countermeasures to deepen the reform of the financial system. Four suggestions are proposed: further strengthening the ability of self-improvement of the counties; perfecting financial transfer payment system, intensifying transfer payment; optimizing the financial expenditure structure to introduce the framework of public financial system; and strengthening the management of government debts.