OECD Tax Policy Studies No. 7f - OECD Fiscal Design Survey Background Paper: Lithuania

In accordance with decisions made by the FDI, the OECD has initiated surveys on fiscal decentralisation for the purpose of providing international comparisons on the design of fiscal systems across levels of government. The FDI is a joint initiative of the OECD, the World Bank, USAID, the Council of Europe, The Open Society Institute, UNDP and OECD Member countries to assist transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe in carrying out intergovernmental reforms. In 2000 the surveys took place in six countries: three OECD Member countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, and the three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In "Fiscal Design Surveys across Levels of Government" OECD Tax Policy Studies, no 7, 2001, the overall concept of the surveys and the comparative results for the six countries are brought. The full country reports are available through Source OECD, www.SourceOECD.org, and the internet site of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, www.oecd.org/daf/fa" GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE SURVEY 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 Main features of local finance and intergovernmental relations 1.2 Major empirical findings 1.3 Main issues in the fiscal design 1.4 Status of policy reform considerations 2. THE TECHNICAL FRAMEWORK - CLASSIFICATION OF LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMIC TRANSACTIONS 2.1 Administrative 2.1.1 Central government 2.1.2 Regions (counties) 2.1.3 Local self-government (municipalities) 2.2 Public finance structure 2.2.1 State budget and municipal budgets 2.2.2 Segregated funds (mainly social security) 2.2.3 Budget reform 3. GOVERNMENT FINANCE STATISTICS ON SUB-NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS 3.1 Sub-national revenue 3.1.1 Income tax, profits tax and capital gains 3.1.2 Taxes on property 3.1.1 Tax revenue 3.1.2 Non-tax revenue 3.1.3 Inter-government financial relations – Grants 3.2 Sub-national expenditure 4. EVALUATIONS ON SUB-NATIONAL AUTONOMY AND NATIONAL FISCAL CONSTRAINTS 4.1 General presentation of the sub-national government system. Summary on government finance reform policies 4.2 Local discretion - Tax administration and relation to central government 4.3 National regulation of the framework for non-tax revenues 4.4 National policies on design of grants systems 4.5 National control on borrowing 4.6 Local discretion - Expenditure 4.7 General budget co-operation with central government