法國地方自治團體之財政權

The Fiscal Power of French Local Self-Governing Bodies

明顯為單一國的法國，長期以來由中央政府控制財政權，於2003年修憲時，新增肯定地方自治團體財政權之憲法基礎，但就租稅權的角度言，仍然因為租稅法定原則之法框架權，掌握於國會，法國各級地方自治團體所擁有的財政權，幾乎僅為聊備一格。所幸，地方自治團體仍然透過相同具有憲法位階之財政補償原則與財政調整原則，與中央政府進行磋商，爭取可能分配到的稅捐財源，因而仍可肯定其擁有有限的財政權。不過，當中央政府移轉權限予地方自治團體時，若無伴隨足夠財源，或是國會立法可能限縮地方自治團體之固有財源時，地方自治團體具有向憲法委員會提出合憲解釋聲請之資格，儘管憲法委員會目前對於此類案件採取寬鬆審查，但並未否定地方自治團體以自由治理原則受侵害為聲請利益之當事人適格。另方面，從支出面角度觀察，各地方自治團體得以透過由地方居民選舉而組成之議會，自由決定如何就其所擁有之財源進行預算之編列，並由該地方政府依據預算而支出，甚至也有舉債、借貸的能力，可謂擁有相當完整的支出與預算財政權。

France has clearly long been a Unitary State as its fiscal power has been controlled by the central government. In 2003, When the Constitution was amended in 2003, a constitutional basis for affirming the fiscal power of local self-governing bodies was added. However, because of the legal principle of taxation, the local selfgoverning bodies have not really been given the taxation rights. Fortunately, the local self-governing bodies can still negotiate with the central government through the fiscal compensation and fiscal balance, and strive for the possible distribution of tax revenues, so as to ensure that they have limited financial power. However, when the central government transfers the authority to the local self-governing bodies, the local self-governing bodies is entitled to submit a petition for a constitutional interpretation to the Constitutional Council if there is no sufficient financial resources, or if the Congress may limit the inherent financial resources of the local self-governing body. On the other hand, from the expenditure perspective, the local self- governing bodies can freely decide the budget from the financial resources by their own local council which is composed of local residents which enables the local government to spend according to the budget, and even have the ability to borrow. It can be described as having a fairly complete expenditure and budgetary fiscal power.