Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej MW Pivot Skin

SUBSIDY – it means two financial instruments: general subsidy, transferred from the state budget to local-government units, and subsidy designated for the statutory activity of political parties (the first type will be discussed). From the point of view of the local government, sub. – apart from special subsidies and own income –are one of the three main sources of income of local-government units. A distinguishing feature of the general sub. is its obligatory, non-refundable and unpaid nature, as well as the lack of a specific purpose of the transferred funds. In other words, the unit receiving the sub. can freely dispose of it, which distinguishes this form of transfers from the state budget from special subsidies, the purpose of which is predetermined. The basic role of the general sub. is the financing of tasks of local-government units in the scope of education, and in addition, the support for economically weaker local-government units. The system of subsidizing local-government units is very complex and complicated. General sub. consists of a compensatory part (containing the basic and supplementary amount), a balancing part (for municipalities and counties) and regional (for voivodships) and the largest part – educational. Amounts allocated to each local-government unit within individual parts of the general sub. are calculated on the basis of algorithms that take into account a number of factors, such as income of local-government units from share in income taxes, population density, unemployment rate, number of inhabitants, social assistance expenditure, area of county and voivodship roads, GDP per capita, types of educational institutions, number of students, etc. In addition, based on the tax income ratio amounts are determined that the most affluent local-government units are obliged to transfer to the state budget (→ janosikowe). General sub. is a very important source of income for local-government units, and its amount is growing every year. For example – in 1999, the amount of general sub. transferred to local-government units was just over PLN 22 billion, while in 2016 this value exceeded PLN 52 billion. The share of the sub. in the total income of local-government units is about 25% [ R. Cieślak ].

Literature: E. Kornberger-Sokołowska, Decentralizacja finansów publicznych a samodzielność finansowa jednostek samorządu terytorialnego, Warszawa 2001 ■ E. Malinowska-Misiąg, W. Misiąg, Finanse publiczne w Polsce, Warszawa 2006.