Under the federal finance law, provinces are solely entitled to certain taxes and levies such as income from the fire protection tax, fees from hunting and fisheries, tourism, administrative capacity and tolls - these sums account for around 0.5 % of the provincial budget. Niederösterreich, as well as all other Austrian regions, gets the bulk of its financial resources from financial transfers within a sophisticated federal fiscal-equalisation-system. This means that income from certain federal taxes, such as income tax, turnover tax, mineral oil taxes, inheritance and gift taxes, land transfer taxes and vehicle taxes is divided up among the federation, the provinces and the municipalities. This distribution is made in line with agreed percentages determined mainly by reference to the size of population in the individual provinces. The allocation of the resources from the fiscal equalization is handled by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The budget of Niederösterreich for 2005 is about 5,3 billion Euro.
The income of the municipalities is made up of the shares under the fiscal-equalization-system (about 60%) and the municipal taxes (about 40%). The municipal taxes, which are levied autonomously, include income from commune and land taxes (about 30%), various consumer taxes and the taxes on respectively charges for the use of public land and communal facilities (sewers, graveyards, garbage disposal, etc).
For more information:
Amt der NÖ Landesregierung
Finances - Mr. Rudolf Stöckelmayer
Tel.: 0043 (2742) 9005 124 32
E-mail: post.f1@noel.gv.at