Partakers with the Altar

Contrary to prevalent assumptions, city magistracies did not simply pay for the upkeep of the churches used by the Dutch Reformed church. Based on the archives of churchwardens for the eleven public churches of Amsterdam, this article shows that for about a century between 1650 and 1750 the churches paid for themselves, how this was possible, and why they eventually came to rely municipal subsidies. After the devastations wrought by Revolt and Reformation, the buildings were refurnished in a luxurious style, befitting the prestige of the city. Burgomasters imposed a seating arrangement that, maintained by a variety of church attendants, reflected the hierarchical order of society. The biographical background and the work of these attendants provide a window into the ritual of churchgoing. During the heyday of Amsterdam’s prosperity people were happy to pay or the services the churches provided, including the display of rank and dignity. Economic decline, critique of the established social order, and changing religious sensibilities undercut this source of funding. The report of an auditing committee, analysing the administration of churchwardens in 1795 and 1796, testifies to the difficulties even the staunchest Batavian revolutionaries experienced when rethinking early modern public finances.

O FINANSIJSKOJ AUTONOMIJI NIŽIH TERITORIJALNO-ADMINISTRATIVNIH JEDINICA OD 1919. DO 1929. GODINE – PRILOG POIMANjU POSTOJANjA LOKALNE SAMOUPRAVE U PERIODU PRIMENE VIDOVDANSKOG USTAVA

There are divergent authorial views with regard to the assessment of the self- government of municipalities, counties and areas proclaimed by the Vidovdan Constitution and accompanying legal acts. Public and financial doctrine is in agreement in the belief that without the financial autonomy of lower territorial- administrative units, there is no actualization of the principles of local self- government. Since the topic of the development of local public finances in our country still seems insufficiently researched, the author tries to re-test the hypothesis of the existence of local self-government in the period of application of this constitutional act, by presenting the normative framework and significant doctrinal reviews on this issue. The aim is to provide a possibility for a broader and more effective view of the development of this political and legal institute.

Stability of Tax Revenue in Poland’s National Budget in 2004-2020

Both the amount and structure of tax revenue may change in time as they depend on numerous variables, including factors of the business cycle. However, the stability of tax revenue affects the balance of public finances and the ability to meet public obligations. The aim of this study is to evaluate the stability of tax revenue in Poland’s national budget in 2004-2020. The research results indicate that both the amount and the structure of tax revenue in the national budget in 2004-2020 were stable.

New technologies in the Social Insurance Institution

The Social Insurance Institution (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, ZUS) is one of the largest public institutions in Poland. For nearly nine decades it has been carrying out tasks in the area of social insurance, taking care both of the social security of citizens and the part of public finances it manages. ZUS has solutions which use modern techniques and technologies (so-called e-projects), which are the basic tools for achieving the organisation’s objectives. The text outlines the objectives for ZUS development and related IT instruments in the area of IT over the last five years. Special attention has been paid to the solutions employed by ZUS during the COVID-19 pandemic (from spring 2020), which positively verified their legitimacy and application. The main e-projects have been described. Their role has been indicated and their efficiency assessed.

Consolidation of Public Finances as a Tool for Minimising Disparities in the Sectoral Structure of the National Economy

The present paper sets the task to consider the issues of public financial resources consolidation in the context of disclosing tax and budgetary policy tools to minimise disparities in the sectoral structure of the Ukrainian economy. The relevance of the study is determined by the topicality of the issues of consolidation and subsequent synchronisation of the finances of public structures in order to create the necessary conditions to minimise the differences between sectors of the Ukrainian economy. In this context, it is extremely important to consider the issues of public finance consolidation through the prism of disclosing the fiscal policy tools as a means of minimising the disparities in the sectoral structure of the Ukrainian economy. The issues of budgetary policy and the economy of Ukraine are extremely important from the standpoint of assessing the correctness of the chosen course of development of Ukrainian society in general and individual sectors of the national economy in particular. The purpose of this study is to assess the real state of the country's budgetary policy in general and in the context of the consolidation of public finances as a tool to minimise these disparities in particular, as well as to consider some aspects of the current status of the Ukrainian economy. The leading approach of the study is a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the matter at hand. The main results of the study were: an assessment of the level of disparities in the distribution of funds from the state budget of Ukraine for 2020; determination of the main directions for the consolidation of public finances when planning the state budget for the current financial year. Prospects for further research in this direction are determined by the importance of various aspects of the distribution of public finances in various spheres of the national economy and the need to create optimal conditions for their proper distribution. The applied value of this study lies in the assessment of the prospects for consolidating public finance as a tool to minimise the disproportions in the sectoral structure of the Ukrainian economy and the possibility of searching for and then introducing optimal ways for a qualitative resolution of this issue

Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS): A look beyond nearly 30 years of controversy at what it does and doesn't tell us about Scotland

Government Expenditure Revenue Scotland (GERS) remains a controversial statistical publication on Scotland’s public finances. We trace the evolution of GERS over time, and track how it has been used in political debate since it was first published in 1992. Now in its 27th edition, we review its ongoing role in informing constitutional and fiscal debate in Scotland. We dispel some of the myths about the publication, but also highlight legitimate criticisms, and explore how it is used by both sides in the independence debate. Our main contribution is to summarise what GERS tells us – and crucially what it does not tell us – about the state of Scotland’s economy and public finances. We conclude with an assessment of what GERS might tell us about the prospects for any future debate on Scottish independence.