재정보전금 제도 도입의 정책효과 분석 및 함의:수평적 재정형평성의 개선을 중심으로

초록

This paper empirically analyzes the extent to which the newly enacted Local Fiscal Compensation System (LFCS) reduces fiscal disparity among local governments within the provinces and succeeds in meeting the declared objective of improved fiscal equalization among the localities. LFCS was introduced in the year 2000 in place of the Province Tax Levy Transfer System (PTLTS) that was criticized for causing a wider fiscal disparity among local governments within the provinces. The findings can be summarized as follows. (1) Except for the case of Jeju-Do, LFCS outperforms the former system of PTLTS and systematically improves fiscal equalization among the localities. It improves even the inter-local fiscal disparity caused by regional unbalance in the sources of local taxes. This finding was observed consistently in all the provinces except Kyonggi-Do. (2) In the second round of research, a contributory effect was examined upon fiscal equalization by the three different types of Local Fiscal Compensation funds. Special Fiscal Compensation fund turned out to exert a negative effect upon fiscal equalization, while both General Fiscal Compensation fund and Program Fiscal Compensation fund proved positive. This research finding implies that Korean provincial governments act in favor of the political logic over the economic and leans strongly towards the dispersion of resources among many places over the concentration of funds among a few targeted areas.

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