Assignment Tasks: Should the Australian Commonwealth government and the various Australian state and territory local government grants commissions use matching grants or non-matching grants or both...

Determinants of Demand for Electronics in China
Australian Government Grant Commission & Mechanism to Fund the Local Programs
Table of Contents
31.
Introduction
E
or! Bookmark not defined.2.1.
Goal of this Research
82.2.
The Importance for choosing this subject for Global economy
133.
Silent example on public school financing of local government in USA (Applying both non-matching and matching grants)
144.
Conclusion
155.
References
1. Introduction
In Australian political structure they have three levels of Government system where the powers of constitution have been shared by commonwealth government, state or te
itory government and some limited powers have been assigned to local councils to execute local activities and functions.

Before 1933 when the Commonwealth Grant Commission was not established, all grants were general purpose grants and states were having rights to decide how to spend the grant money, however to ensure the “Horizontal Fiscal Equalization” so that each state provide services at national average level of efficiency, there was a need emerged to distribute the commonwealth funds and hence in 1933 the Commonwealth Grant Commission was established to recommend how the Commonwealths general purpose grant will be distributed to state or te
itories and soon this Grant Commission became integral to the Australian Federal System.
    Type
    NSW
    Vic
    Qld
    WA
    SA
    Tas
    NT
    Total
    Boroughs
     
    1
     
     
     
     
     
    1
    Cities
    38
    33
    7
    22
    21
    5
    2
    128
    Councils
    28
     
     
     
     
    6
     
    34
    District council
     
     
     
     
    35
     
     
    35
    Municipalities
    9
     
     
     
     
    19
     
    28
    Regional councils
    3
     
    29
     
    4
     
     
    36
    Rural cities
     
    6
     
     
    1
     
     
    7
    Shires
    75
    39
    24
    107
     
     
    10
    255
    Towns
     
     
    1
    12
    2
     
    2
    17
    Community government councils
     
     
     
     
     
     
    2
    2
    Aboriginal shires
     
     
    12
     
     
     
     
    12
    Island councils
     
     
    1
     
     
     
     
    1
    Unincorporated
    2
    10
     
     
    1
     
    5
    18
    Total
    154
    79
    74
    142
    64
    30
    21
    564
Local Government is the third and lowest tier of the Australian government structure which is administered by state and te
itories government which are being administered by commonwealth or federal government.
2. Theoretical Consideration on Federal Grant System
Since 1933, in Australia, Federal Grant Commission is serving as advisory body for the Australian government to provide financial assistance to the te
itories (states) of Australia in order to achieve the full Horizontal Fiscal Equalisation which is a central feature of Australian federation.
Commonwealth Grant Commission is an independent body which use to responds to federal treasurer’s terms of reference. The requests from federal treasurer include the calculation of ratio of grants to be distributed by Australian Commonwealth government to state or te
itory government. Before the grants are issued by federal treasurer, a negotiation usually take place between commonwealth, state and te
itory treasure department.
In 1999, the Howard Coalition Government legislated for the general purpose funding source to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). A legislative requirement emerged that Federal Grants Commission monies must be distributed in accordance to the defined principles of horizontal fiscal equalization. The Grants Commission summarized its horizontal fiscal equalization guidelines in the following way:
1) GST revenue distribution being a method through which the Commonwealth equalises states’ fiscal capacities, taking account of their individual expenditure requirements and revenue capacities; and
2) Each state government having the capacity to provide the same standard of services, presuming each:
· Makes the same effort to grow the revenue from its own resources, and
· Operates at the similar degree of efficiency, as defined and stated by the Grants Commission.
As mentioned earlier that the Federal or Commonwealth grant commission was established to ensure the revenue/grant distribution, generated through goods and service tax (GTS) to the te
itory or state government, further state or te
itory grant commission make decision on how the grants...