In February 2000, the Austrian Federal Government set itself the target of achieving a balanced budget by 2002. A domestic stability pact was agreed that specified the budget performance to be achieved by the central, regional and local authorities. To this end, a comprehensive consolidation...

The new revenue sharing law has hardly changed the distribution of public funds among the federal government, Länder, and communities as compared to previous laws, except that the distribution key for joint federal taxes (for income-based and inheritance taxes) has clearly shifted in favour of...