E62 - Fiscal PolicyReturn

The paper, based on primary research and evaluation of data from the Financial Administration of the Czech Republic, evaluates housing support in the form of tax deduction of mortgage interest from the tax base in the Czech Republic. Research has shown that this support undermines horizontal and vertical tax fairness and excludes assistance to taxpayers with incomes below the taxable amount. Housing support is not conceptual and lacks control and feedback mechanisms. However, distributional effects need to be taken into account when considering tax reforms, especially for indebted and cash-strapped households. However, we do not recommend completely canceling the tax deduction, which would limit household budgets and young families' access to their own housing. Younger taxpayers mainly use the tax deduction, and the abolition of the tax deduction would increase housing costs for these taxpayers.

The paper focuses on tax relief individuals that are used to support other desirable public policy. They may represent hidden subsidies in the tax system, reducing tax revenue and complications in the administration. Analysis of tax reliefs is complicated because their uniform definition does not exist. They can mean deductions from the tax base (tax allowances), the tax relief or the tax credit, which reduce the actual tax liability. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the scope of use of tax reliefs, which are granted to individuals in the Czech Republic, in the form of non-taxable portion of the tax. Methodically, the research relies on the evaluation of secondary statistical data of the Czech Republic Financial Management and is based on aggregated data from tax returns filed for the years 2005 - 2014, which are statistically processed further.

The reduction of public debt has become important task for many national governments. Sustainability of public finance is frequently conditioned by cutting budget deficits, i.e. raising tax burden and/or reducing government expenditure. Countries have to implement large fiscal consolidation to avoid fiscal crises and encourage future growth. However, the fiscal tightening can suppress the growth of actual product and delay the improvement of fiscal indicators. The goal of this article is to present the possible effects of fiscal consolidation on national economy. On the basis of literature review we will try to summarize current discussion and highlight the main problems of design and implementation fiscal consolidation. The successful reform of public finance should be expenditure based and changes of government spending and taxes should be permanent. The economic boom is probably better period for fiscal consolidation then recession. And timing of received fiscal measures seems to be also important. The responses of central bank and possibility of currency depreciation can also play crucial roles. Finally, the successful fiscal consolidation can depend on institutional arrangement of economy or structural policy and income policy.

Tax relief is used more all less in all countries within the structure of personal income tax. They are focused on supporting desirable public policies and can be an inexpensive administrative tool. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of the tax deduction as a donation for individuals by income group graded according to the tax bases. Assess whether the tax relief performs the function for which it was established and whether it is one of the important factors affecting the philanthropy of individuals in the country. Methodically, the research relies on static analysis of secondary data from the years 2005 - 2013, provided by the financial administration of the country. This data is further processed statistically, using the average values and regression analysis. Research suggests that deductible donation as a tax-free portion of the tax is inadequate, it does not have strong incentive effect and does not significantly affect taxpayers either. If the state wants to achieve long-term sustainability and altruistic behaviours will have to choose other means.

The article investigates the impact of fiscal decentralisation on a long-term economic development. The aim of the article is to examine and quantify influence of fiscal decentralisation on output in the European Union in the period 1995-2012. The empirical evidence (based on data taken from OECD Fiscal Decentralisation Database and OECD) is performed on a panel which contains 21 countries. Methodology is applied in accordance to Blöchliger (2013), but explanatory variables are not examined in individual regressions, but the analysis newly uses Generalized Method of Moments (Dynamic Panel Data). For a model specification, Dynamic Panel Data Model Wizard is applied. Results of dynamic panel analysis suggest positive impact of expenditure decentralisation, negative effect of revenue decentralisation and negative but statistically insignificant impact of tax decentralisation on economic development. Based on the empirical results, the study suggests that sub-central governments should be given more autonomy and authority in fiscal expenditure matters. These findings are interesting as central governments must often face to tendence of sub-central governments to increase revenue fiscal decentralisation over the last years.

This paper examines the impact of fiscal policy on economic growth depending on the institutional conditions in the OECD countries over the time period 2000-2012. The analysis is based on the methods and tests of panel regression. From the analysis results it is evident that in the case of government spending there is (1) positive impact on economic growth in the countries with lower fiscal transparency; (2) negative impact in countries with higher fiscal transparency. In less developed countries there is higher proportion of pro-growth spending within total government spending. On the other hand in more developed countries the Wagner law becomes valid with the existence of welfare costs. In the case of taxation impact on economic growth it is visible that (3) the negative impact of taxation is more harmful for economic growth in the countries with worse institutional conditions. The explanation of this result can be linked to different fiscal transparency and different economic level.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate mutual interaction of fiscal and monetary policy in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The relationship - cooperation or conflict, are basic determinants of successful implementation for economic policy of the state. Fiscal and monetary policies have usually different aims and some conflict situations may arise. The game-theoretical approach is responsible for creating the theoretical model, which is then dealt with the empirical analysis by the method of the ordinary least squares. We find a stabilizing role of monetary policy in both countries and the dominant role of monetary policy in the Czech Republic.