Investigation of income sources of municipalities in Turkey in terms of fiscal decentralization

As of the end of the 1970s, the globalization process has accelerated throughout the world, and with the fluidization of labor and capital factors between countries, even though physical borders are protected, economic borders are removed. This process has brought about a change in management approaches. The increase in global competition among countries has been the most decisive factor for this. The transition to the new public management approach has encouraged localization. In public administration, the shift of the direction of the administrative power from the center to the local has been the result of focusing on citizen satisfaction. The idea that local government units can produce and provide public goods and services more effectively has begun to dominate. Therefore, the authorities, duties and responsibilities of municipalities have increased. Fiscal decentralization has been easier in terms of service, but it has not been so easy in terms of income. There are some borders especially in terms of countries with unitary state administration such as Turkey. The central government does not want to leave the income items it owns to the municipalities, and the income items that it has left to collect are insufficient in providing income. In this context, the most important income sources of municipalities consist of the shares they receive from the central government tax revenues. As a result, financial decentralization remains insufficient in terms of income and vertical and horizontal inequalities arise against municipalities. In this research, the theoretical, legal and statistical analysis of the income sources of municipalities in Turkey has been carried out. As a research method, the document analysis method was used in qualitative research, which allows to determine the current situation of the research subject and to make evaluations and develop suggestions based on these determinations. In this respect, statistical data presented to the public by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance General Directorate of Accounts were examined, relevant calculations were made and determinations and evaluations were made on these. At the same time, some suggestions have been developed to eliminate horizontal and vertical inequalities experienced by municipalities and increase the level of fiscal decentralization. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the horizontal and vertical inequalities in terms of income sources that arise against the municipalities in Turkey are gradually increasing, and therefore the financial decentralization is interrupted.