The New Vision of Local Governance
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T A B L E 1 . 7 Average Population per Local Authority in Sample Developing Countries Country
India, rural Kazakhstan Indonesia Argentina Poland Brazil Chile India, urban China South Africa Uganda All sample countries
Average population per local authority
3,278 4,331 5,915 14,972 18,881 30,099 64,592 68,027 107,334 238,839 373,321 79,000
Source: Table 1.6 (this volume).
of municipal services. In Kazakhstan, all local services are shared central-local responsibilities; local governments do not have independent budgets and have no fiscal autonomy. Education and health account for nearly half of local government expenditures in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Poland, and Uganda. In Uganda, education alone accounts for about 40 percent of local expenditures. In India and South Africa, municipal services (such as water, sewer, and garbage) and municipal administration dominate local expenditures. In China, education, municipal administration, justice, and police account for nearly half of local expenditures.
Local Revenues and Revenue Autonomy Local governments in sample countries raise 39.6 percent of revenues from taxes, another 9.5 percent from fees and charges, and the remaining 50.9 percent from higher-level transfers (figure 1.3 and table 1.8). Comparable figures for OECD countries are 49 percent for taxes, 16.6 percent for fees, and 34.4 percent for transfers. The role of fiscal transfers is much larger than average in Uganda (85.4 percent), Poland (76.0 percent), China (67.0 percent), Brazil (65.4 percent), and Indonesia (62.0 percent). The sample countries have diverse revenue structures. On average, they raise 32 percent of tax revenues from property taxes, 15 percent of revenues from personal income taxes, 4 percent from corporate income taxes, and the other 49 percent from a large number of small taxes, fees, and charges. In comparison, OECD countries raise 54 percent of local revenues from property taxes, 23 percent from
