IMFG Paper | 2012
Hungary: An Unfinished Decentralization?
Izabella Barati-Stec
This paper examines the system of municipal finance in Hungary with special attention to the current changes in the regulation and finance of Hungarian municipalities and the change in central control over municipal finances in general after 2008, and suggests possible reforms.
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Forum Paper | 2012
Shared Spaces: Funding and Managing Libraries and Parks in Tough Times
Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance
Public parks and library systems across North America are experiencing fiscal distress. Short-term cost-cutting measures galvanize the community to oppose the reductions, but are there longer-term solutions to the funding problems?
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Forum Paper | 2012
Moving our Region: Funding Transportation for our Future
Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance
During 2011 and 2012, the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) hosted a speakers’ series called Moving our Region on funding regional transportation. This report distills the key lessons from the series.
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IMFG Paper | 2012
The Reform of Business Property Tax in Ontario
Michael Smart
Business property taxes in Ontario have fallen dramatically in the past decade, due to a series of reforms mandated by the provincial government. This paper discusses the likely impacts of the reforms on business location, wages, and land values, and the economic welfare of provincial residents.
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IMFG Paper | 2012
IMFG Graduate Student Papers
Mia Baumeister; Cayley Burgess
Baumeister’s paper suggests policy changes for using the development charge as a planning tool. Burgess reviews the risks to Canadian municipal finance from extreme weather and analyzes the financial tools that cities can use to prepare for extreme weather events.
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IMFG Paper | 2012
Subnational Taxation in Large Emerging Countries
Richard M. Bird
This paper reviews the evolution and current state of subnational taxation in five large emerging countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and Nigeria—BRIC plus one. As these case studies show, intergovernmental fiscal relations in any country are inevitably both path-dependent and context-sensitive.
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IMFG Paper | 2012
You Get What You Pay For: How Nordic Cities Are Financed
Jorgen Lotz
The Nordic countries are small, unitary, and have largely homogeneous populations. Municipalities are the most important agents in the decentralized public sector. There are lessons to be learned from country to country in the field of local government financing, but comparisons need to be made with care.
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IMFG Paper | 2012
Property Tax Reform in Vietnam: A Work in Progress
Hong-Loan Trinh
In 2012, Vietnam will celebrate 25 years of economic reform and structural readjustment from a largely centralized, subsidized economy to one based on market principles. This paper reviews existing property-based taxes and outlines the potential for a land tax to effectively replace the current property tax.
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Globe and Mail: Sean Grisdale on the “Squandering” of Public Land Sales
June 7, 2024
CBC Online: Almos Tassonyi on Brampton’s Strategic Reserve Fund
June 4, 2024
Municipal World: Enid Slack on Municipal Finance
March 5, 2024