84604 - DIRITTO FINANZIARIO

Learning outcomes

The course aims to offer a current picture of the public finance system. It combines the legal, structural and constitutional analysis of the forms of taxation with the financing choices of the functions and services performed in the budgets of the State, the Regions and local authorities. These guarantee the financial balance, respecting the constitutional precept and the European constraints and the sustainability of those social rights that the Constitution protects at the different levels of territorial government of public finance. The public budgets thus integrate national and European financial forecasting choices with administrative efficiency in the management of financial resources, according to constantly evolving accounting procedures. Therefore, financial law immediately enhances the training acquired with constitutional law and, subsequently, helps to better understand tax law, administrative law, European law and regional law, thus contributing to complete the legal training of the law degree with studying present-day issues.

Course contents

The aim of the course is to provide the student with the knowledge of the fundamental notions concerning: structure and functioning of the tax system for financing public expenditure; principles, structure and functions of the state budget; essential legal institutions that characterize the state accounting and public finance system. In line with this objective, the program will analyze Italian public finance in its juridical dimension, devoting a significant part of the discussion to interactions with supranational (European Union) and infranational (regional and local public finance) government levels.

The Lecture Program will tend to be divided into 5 basic parts.

The exam program coincides with the topics covered in class and with the topics covered and in the handouts or readings that will be made available on the iol.unibo.it website and in the suggested manuals (for the parts to be studied).

1. Introduction to the course. Framework of legal issues of public finance

- Public finance: the basic definition and conceptual coordinates
- Interdisciplinary dimension of public finance: economics, law, politics.
- The public budget of local authorities and public financial activity: nature, functions, objectives (allocation and redistribution of resources, stabilization of the economy).
- The relationship between income and expenses and the centrality of the State Budget. Financial and economic balance, forecast and final balance. General principles of the budget.
- The budget as a tool for planning, economic policy, administrative and accounting management. Budget and public policies (economic, fiscal, budget).
- The financing of public expenditures as a condition of the effectiveness of political, social and civil rights and the economic-financial sustainability of the budget.
- Framework of the sources of the multi-level financial system. Public accounting among principles, rules and techniques.

2. Public revenues

2.1. Tax revenue

- Classification of revenue in the state budget.
- Tax revenue and tax function. The concept of tax in legislation and in the development of jurisprudence and doctrine.
- Tax financing in the Constitution. Tax sovereignty and legal reserve (23 and 75 Const.); tax interest; contributive capacity as foundation and juridical limit of the power of taxation (53.1 of the Constitution).
- Legal types of taxes (tax, tax, special contribution, monopoly, environmental taxes). Redistributive justice and fiscal financing: the economic and political criteria for allocating public spending among the associates.
- Principle of progressivity and redistributive effects of tax financing (53.2 of the Constitution).
- Structure and types of the main taxes in force in the Italian legal system. Taxation on income, on assets, on trade, on consumption. - Tax regulations and tax systems. Multilevel taxation: decentralization, fiscal federalism and vertical subsidiarity (postponement).
- The main economic effects of taxes.
- Tax benefits and debts tax expense. The extrafiscalità.
- The "parafiscality": the financing of the social security system between the insurance model and the tax model.
- Taxation, public economy and market: in the constitutional and European Union dimension. Tax reflections of European economic integration and the single market.
- Coordination of public finances and taxes: the autonomy of taxation and the financing of the expenses of Regions and Municipalities in Articles 117-120 Cost.

2.2. Other public revenues
- Non-tax revenues (compulsory and fees)
- Revenue from alienation of assets. The financial repercussions of the management of the state property and of the state heritage. Securitization

2.3. The public debt

- The financing of expenditure in budget deficit.
- Structure, types, economic and legal effects of public debt.
- Public debt, money and savings.
- The evolution of public debt in Italy.
- The public debt between income and expenditure. Debt in public finance balances (primary surplus, deficit, recourse to the market). - The "floating debt".
- European rules on public debt.
- Coordination of public finance and public debt. From the internal stability pact to the balanced budget rules and the debt for the Regions and local authorities (l. 243/2012).

3. Public spending

- Public spending in art. 81 of the Constitution and in the general law of accounting and public finance 196/2009.
- Analysis of the composition of public expenditure. Types and classifications of legal, economic, administrative and accounting nature; functional classification for missions and programs; mandatory charges; expenses from legislative factors; adaptation costs to the needs.
- The constitutional obligation of financial coverage. The main means of coverage. Quantification criteria in the spending laws and in the budget law.
- Expenditure laws and the relationship with the Budget Law. Long-term and permanent spending laws.
- The "cost of the rights" and the expenses deriving from the sentences of the Constitutional Court.
- Coordination of public finance and expenditure of non-state territorial bodies: the financial sustainability of the essential levels of services concerning civil, political and social rights and fundamental functions. Public expenditure and the c.d. standard costs.
- The technique of remodeling expenses in the budget.
Monitoring and control of political expenditure, political, administrative, accounting; object and procedures for correcting expenditure variances. Spending review. The safeguard clause
- Tax benefits and public expenditure (tax expenditures).
- European rules on the evolution of public spending.

4. State budget and financial maneuver

- Historical evolution of the art. 81 of the Constitution and of the Fiscal Policy Act (from Law 468/1978 to Law 196/2009).
- The economic crisis of 2008-2012: the Europeanisation of budget discipline and the reform of the art. 81 Cost .; the implementation of the reform (2012-2016): l. 243/2012 and subsequent modifications. - From the financial Law and Stability Law to the unified Budget Law.
- The political address in financial matters in the constitutional dialectic between Parliament and government. The legal reserve and the balance between formal and substantive law. The authorization effectiveness of the financial statements. The provisional exercise of the budget.
- The progressive European governance on budgetary procedures. European monetary policy, coordination of European economic policies and surveillance measures in the TFEU. Stability and Growth Pact, Fiscal Compact and European Stability Mechanism.
- Financial balance and Budget balance in art. 81 and 97 of the Constitution and in L 243/2012. The general public finance balances and the medium-term structural or objective balance. The decision on indebtedness between constitutional and European rules. Infringement procedure for excessive deficit and / or debt.
- Accounting harmonization and consolidation of public accounts.
- The financial balance as a constitutional "value" and the balances in the constitutional jurisprudence regarding social rights.
- The legal instruments of planning and political direction of the Italian budget cycle. From the European semester to the European budget calendar: Economics and Finance Document and DEF Update Note; Budgetary planning document; draft budget law; Related laws.
- Structure and contents of the Budget Law

5. The legislative and administrative cycle of the State Budget

- The procedure for the formation of the budget law and the approval of the financial maneuver: the role and powers of the Government, Parliament and European institutions.
- The administrative and accounting management of the budget. The phases and procedures for managing revenue and expenses. The phenomenon of active and passive residues. The schedule for managing expenses and strengthening the cash balance.
Changes in the balance sheet and the balance sheet.
- Final balance and Report.
- Controls (outline): internal and external political, administrative and accounting controls, management and management. The roles of the general accounting of the State, the Ministry of the Economy, the Court of Auditors, the Parliament, the Parliamentary Budget Office.

Readings/Bibliography

For the ATTENDING students (see section "Teaching methods") the exam must be prepared studying:
1) the lecture notes prepared by the teacher (divided by subject) which will be published and made accessible to students (subject to authentication with Unibo credentials) on the online teaching materials website (iol.unibo.it) during the course of the lessons;
2) in-depth readings and didactic materials that during the course, in the same way, will be presented and discussed in class (sentences, analysis of public finance documents and public budgets, etc.).

For NON-ATTENDING students, the exam must be prepared by studying:
1- both the following textbook: G. PALMERIO, A. FRAU, "Principi di Finanza pubblica", Cacucci, Bari, 2017 (or most recent edition on the market). The following parts are to be read: in-depth reading chapter IV (page 113); in-depth reading chapter V (page 142), paragraphs 1,4 and 5 and in-depth reading of chapter X; paragraph 8 and in-depth reading of chapter XI; in-depth reading chapter XII; paragraph 3.2.4 and in-depth reading of chapter XIII; paragraphs 5.3, 6.3, 7 and detailed reading of chapter XV; paragraphs 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and in-depth reading of chapter XVI;
2- both the lecture notes prepared by the teacher (divided by subject) which will be published and made accessible to students (subject to authentication with Unibo credentials) on the online teaching materials website (iol.unibo.it) during the course of the lessons.
Working students, upon documented attestation of the impossibility of attending the lessons, can be considered as attending students.

KEEP ATTENTION: in any case (for attending and not attending) the consultation of the main reference legislative texts in the current version is required: Italian Constitution, European Union Treaty of Operation, EU Reg. 1466 and 1467 of 1997, Law 196/2009 , law 243/2012.
Guided reading tours of any legislative changes in public finance, not dealt with in lecture notes and study texts, will be made available on the online teaching materials website iol.unibo.it. Their consultation/study is mandatory for all students and supplements the exam program.

Teaching methods

Lessons in classroom.

Class attendance will preferably be measured using the iol.unibo.it digital application (accessible through students' personal devices, such as notebooks or smartphones), according to the instructions that will be given at the beginning of the lessons. To be considered attending it is necessary to have attended at least 75% of the lessons (45 hours of lessons out of 60).

For non-attending students, the examination program corresponds to the study of both the lecture notes and the compulsory supplementary readings indicated in the specific section "Texts / Bibliography".

Assessment methods

Through the iol.unibo.it platform periodically students can be offered optional learning verification tools on specific topics or parts of the program, in the form of questionnaires or self-assessment tests. Students will be able to access it during the course, according to the modalities indicated by the teacher on the digital platform.

Exam registration. Students will only have to use the Almaesami web platform. Entries close strictly four days before the date of the appeal. Students already enrolled who no longer intend to take the exam must compulsorily unsubscribe by the same deadline. Students enrolled who no longer wish to take the exam, but have not canceled in due time, must present themselves on the day of the appeal to record the withdrawal. The student who, due to an impediment occurring after the expiry of the term to cancel himself from the list, cannot present himself to take the exam, is obliged to inform the teacher within the time of the beginning of the exam (also by e-mail).

Examination procedure. The exam can be organized in several consecutive daily shifts, based on the number of subscribers. Students enrolled in the test must present themselves on the first day of the exam. If the number of effective attendees exceeds the maximum number of students that can be examined by the Commission during the first day, surplus students will be examined, according to the order of registration in the exam list, on subsequent days that will be communicated to those present by the Commission.

The exam consists of an oral and discursive exam.

Conduct of the interview. During the interview, the Examining Commission puts questions (usually 3-4) to the candidates, based on the knowledge and the knowledge learned through the frequency of the lectures and the critical reading of the study texts and teaching materials. The questions of the oral interview concern the themes indicated in the "Program and contents" section. For the preparation of the exam, the study of the texts indicated in the "Texts / Bibliography" section and the consultation of the main legislation referred to in the texts and during the lessons is required. The questions aim to verify, among other things, if the student has learned the concepts related to the studied legal institutions, if he is able to explain the main problems concerning the topics of study, if he has acquired the ability to necessary argument for the interpretation of the norms and for the analysis and the solution of the juridical problems, and if it is able to apply critically the acquired knowledge, making also reference to the content of the norms, of the jurisprudence and of the doctrine. In particular, the evaluation of the test will be carried out taking into consideration:

- knowledge of institutional profiles;
- the ability to make connections between the different parts of the program;
- the articulation, accuracy and completeness of the exhibition;
- the degree of learning and the ability to use the notions and technical terminology characterizing the subject;
- the ability to frame in a systematic way, taking into account the jurisprudential and doctrinal orientations, the institutes, the arguments and the problems proposed;
- the ability to develop appropriate analyzes of proposed issues and critical arguments.

Optional exam modality for attending students only. Only for students who have attended at least 75% of the lessons there is an optional exam modality, partially in written form. At the end of the lessons, in the month of December, before the beginning of the ordinary session of exams in January, attending students can take a written test in the classroom (30 multiple choice or true / false questions) that will be accessible through the iol platform .unibo.it, without the possibility of consulting any text or material, digital or paper (under penalty of cancellation of the test). The questions will cover some of the topics covered in class and in the lecture notes. The topics covered in the questionnaire will be communicated in advance by the teacher in class, and correspond to about half of the exam program. Each correct answer is worth 1 point. The mark awarded for the written test (out of thirty) is determined based on the number of correct answers only. The student who passes the written test (at least 18 correct answers out of 30) can take the oral exam, in the first two exam sessions (January / February winter session and May / July summer session), on the remaining part of the program. For the oral exam, a mark of thirty is given. The final grade of the exam is calculated starting from the average of the marks obtained in the written test and in the oral one, with a margin of potential correction in increase of 1 point in case of an excellent quality of the interview (interview characterized by brilliance of exposure, mastery demonstrated by the student in the reasoned use of the concepts learned, particular appropriateness of the terminology used in the exposition, etc .: please refer to the evaluation criteria previously indicated). The average with decimals is rounded up to the upper unit (for example: written test mark 25, oral test score 30, average equal to 27.5 = 28; the final grade can be 28 or 29, in case of additional point for excellent conversation). The student who does not obtain the sufficiency in the written test, or who, despite having obtained a grade equal to or higher than 18/30, does not intend to accept the vote of the written test, will sustain the oral exam on the entire exam program.

For the assignment of the thesis it is necessary to have already successfully passed the exam. The thesis, if any, is assigned by the course professor, after a necessary discussion with the student.

Teaching tools

The iol.unibo.it e-learning platform will be used to make available to students:

- handouts, readings and other teaching materials, such as possible in-depth readings, slides, case studies and judgments of the Constitutional Court on public finance, public finance and budget documents, regulatory texts, etc., which will be presented and discussed in classroom during lessons;

- optional tools to support learning verification on specific topics or parts of the program (self-assessment questionnaires; verification tests on the understanding of key concepts).

Students who for reasons of disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) need compensatory tools will be able to communicate to the Teacher their needs in order to be addressed to the contacts and to agree on the adoption of the most appropriate measures.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Mondini