A study of the local revenue sources as a measure of the local autonomy of local government units
Date
2002-03
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Abstract
The Local Government Code of 1991 or the RA 7160 was intended to shift governance from central authorities to the local governments. The Code, in effect, transferred the vast powers and resources from the National Government to the LGUs. The Code was expected to transform the LGUs into self-reliant, peaceful, and people-empowered communities through local autonomy, and to serve as vital engines for total national development. However, the gap between the constitutional intent and the actual practice in implementation efforts obviously narrowed down the local autonomy of the LGUs. For the LGUs' part, local governments have continually relied on the IRA, adopted orthodox revenue policies, and continued to miss taking stock of possibilities that their limited taxing and revenue- raising powers has offered. Instead of being more autonomous, which is the primary intent of the Code, the substitution effect of the IRA with respect to the local revenues prevailed. This implies that though there had been a significant increase in the LGUs' local revenue collection, the increase in IRA more than offsets the said increase in the local revenue collection.
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Keywords
Local revenue, LGU, Local government unit, Local finance, Local autonomy