84604 - DIRITTO FINANZIARIO (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the public finance in the current legal and economic scenario.

It combines the legal, structural and constitutional analysis of forms of taxation with the choices of financing trough the budgets of the State, Regions and local authorities.

Public budgets should guarantee financial equilibrium, in compliance with the constitutional and European constraints, and the sustainability of the social rights protected by the Constitution at the various levels of territorial government of public finance. Public budgets thus integrate national and European financial choices with administrative effectiveness in the management of financial resources, according to constantly evolving accounting procedures.

Therefore, financial law immediately enhances the education acquired through constitutional law and, subsequently, helps to better understand tax law, administrative law, European law and regional law, thus contributing to completing in current terms the legal training of the master's degree.

Course contents

1. Introduction.
Public finance: basic defining and conceptual coordinates
Interdisciplinary dimension of public finance: economics, law, politics.
Public finance in the context of the market economy: Productive Efficiency, Income Distribution and Economic Stabilisation.
Public finance as a condition for the effectiveness of political and social civil rights and the financial sustainability of the budget.
Public finance as mean to impelement political choices.
The instruments of public finance
The public budget: nature, functions, objectives (allocation and redistribution of resources, stabilisation of the economy).
The budget as a tool for the economic policy, administrative and accounting management.

2. Public revenue
2.1. Tax revenues
Classification of revenue in the State budget.
The notion of tax. Taxation in the Constitution. Tax sovereignty and rule of law (artt- 23 and 75 Cst.); fiscal interest; ability to pay as the basis and limit of the taxing power (53.1 Cst.).
Progressivity and redistributive effects of taxation (53.2 Cst.).
Structure and types of the main taxes in force in the Italian legal system. Taxation on income, assets, trade and consumption. Multi-level taxation: decentralisation, fiscal federalism and vertical subsidiarity.
Parafiscal charges: the financing of the social security system between the insurance model and the fiscal model.
Taxation, public economy and market: redistributive function of the tax and neutrality of the tax.
2.2. Other public revenues
Extra-tax revenue.
Revenue from the dismissal of assets. The financial impact of the management of the State property and the State assets. Securitization.
2.3. Public debt
The financing of expenditure in budget deficit.
Structure, types, economic and legal effects of public debt. Public debt as revenue (immediate) and as expenditure (future).
Debt in public finance balances (primary surplus, deficit, market recourse). The so-called floating debt.
The interrelationships between public debt, currency and savings.
The evolution of public debt in Italy.
European rules on public debt.

3. Public expenditure
Public expenditure in art. 81 of the Constitution and in the general law on 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 by missions and programmes; mandatory charges; expenses from legislative factors; expenses for adjustment to requirements.
Financial evaluation of public expenditure: the European System of National and Regional Accounts (SEC2014) and the Consolidated Profit and Loss Account of the Public Administrations (postponement).
The constitutional duty to provide financial cover. The main means of coverage. Quantification criteria in the expenditure laws and in the budget law.
Expenditure laws and the relationship with the Budget Law. Multi-year and permanent spending laws.

Political, administrative and accounting control of public expenditure ; procedures for correcting expenditure overruns. Spending review. The safeguard clause
Italian and European rules on the evolution of public expenditure.

4. State budget and financial manoeuvre
Historical evolution of the art. 81 Cost. and the so-called financial manoeuvre (from Law 468/1978 to Law 196/2009).
The Europeanisation of budgetary discipline and the reform of Article 81 Constitution; the implementation of the reform (2012-2016): Law 243/2012 and subsequent amendments. From the Finance/Stability Act to the Unified Budget Act.
Political guidance on financial matters in the constitutional dialectic between Parliament and government. The rule of law and the budget between formal and substantive law. The authorization stemming from the budget. The provisional budget.
European monetary policy, coordination of European economic policies and surveillance measures in the TFEU. Stability and Growth Pact, Six-Pack, Fiscal Compact and European Stability Mechanism.
Financial equilibrium and budgetary balance in Art. 81 and 97 of the Constitution and in Law 243/2012. General government balances and the structural balance or medium-term objective. The decision about public debt between constitutional and European rules. The infringement procedure for excessive deficit and/or debt.
Accounting harmonisation and consolidation of public budgets.
Financial equilibrium as a constitutional "value" and budget in constitutional jurisprudence on social rights. The recent case law of the Constitutional Court (the case of judgments "imposing" expenses).
Structure and content of the Budget Law

5. The legislative and administrative cycle of the State Budget
The procedure for drafting the budget law and approving the financial package: 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 expenditure. The phenomenon of residual assets and liabilities. The timeframe for managing expenditure and strengthening the cash budget.
Changes in the budget and the management budget.
Final balance sheet and cash flow statement.
The controls (notes): political, administrative and accounting controls, internal and external, management and management. The roles of the General Accounting Office of the State, the Ministry of the Economy, the Court of Auditors, the Parliament, the Parliamentary Budget Office.

6. Public finance of sub-state territorial bodies.
Tax and financial autonomy of Regions and Municipalities in Articles 117-120 of the Constitution.
The so-called fiscal federalism: the own taxes, the partnerships and the principle of the prohibition of state financial transfers
The expenses of Regions and Municipalities, the essential levels of performance and their sustainability. Financial responsibility and equalisation. Constitutional limits to the expenditure and debt of sub-State bodies
Coordination of national public finance. From the internal stability pact to the rules on budget balance and indebtedness for Regions and Local Authorities (Law 243/2012).

Readings/Bibliography

Students may study:
- on the handouts and readings disseminated trough the website (www.iol.unibo.it);
- the following manuals

For the part relating to the Public Finance and Taxation
G. Palmerio - A. Frau, Principi di Finanza Pubblica, Bari, 2017;
or
G. Campa, Economia e finanza pubblica, Torino, 2017.

For the part relating to public budget discipline
G. Vegas, Il bilancio pubblico, Bologna, 2014

NB: In any case, consultation of the main legislation in its current version is required: Italian Constitution, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, EU Reg. 1466 and 1467 of 1997, Law 196/2009, Law 243/2012.

 

Teaching methods

Traditional lessons (in presence).
The lessons will deal with the topics in order not necessarily corresponding to the one followed in manuals and will also try to draw inspiration from themes and problems of current political, legal and institutional, devoting special attention to it.
Therefore, students attending the course are invited to integrate the study of the suggested texts with the lesson notes.
The study of the manuals, in the parts indicated in the appropriate section "Texts/Bibliography", corresponds in any case to the examination program.
Summary of lessons, in-depth analysis of particular topics covered in the classroom and guided tours of reading the updates of the regulations. 

Assessment methods

Due to the current emergency, until further notice, exams will take place in the form of interview trough the MS Teams platform.

At the end of the registration period, an e.mail will be sent to all registered students, with instructions to access the exam session through the MS platform.

The following general instructions remain unchanged.

The exam consist in an interview. During the interview, the Examination Committee asks candidates questions (usually 3-4), based on the notions and knowledge learned by the students through the attendance of the lessons and the critical evaluation of the manuals and other teaching materials.
The interview will focus on the topics indicated in the section "Programme and contents". In order to prepare for the exam, it is necessary to study the texts indicated in the "Texts/Bibliography" section and to consult the main regulations referred to in the texts and during the lessons.
The questions are aimed at verifying, among others, whether the student has learned the notions relating to the legal institutions studied, whether he is able to present, through correct legal reasoning, the main problems concerning the subjects of study, whether he has acquired the capacity to argue necessary for the interpretation of the rules and for the analysis and solution of legal problems, and whether he is able to apply in a critical manner the knowledge acquired, also referring to the content of the rules, jurisprudence and doctrine.
In particular, the evaluation of the interview will be carried out taking into account:
knowledge of institutional profiles;
the ability to make connections between the different parts of the programme;
the articulation, accuracy and completeness of the presentation;
the degree of learning and the ability to use the notions and technical terminology characterizing the subject;
the ability to systematically frame, also taking into account jurisprudential and doctrinal orientations, the institutes, topics and problems proposed;
the ability to develop appropriate analyses of the issues raised and critical arguments.
Students must use only the Unibo Almaesami platform for the registration for the interview
The interviews can be organized in several consecutive daily shifts, according to the number of students enrolled. Students enrolled in the interview must be present on the first day of the exams. If the number of students exceeds the maximum number of students that can be examined by the Commission during the first day, the students in excess will be examined, according to the order of registration , in the following days that will be communicated to those present by the teacher.
For the attribution of the thesis it is necessary successfully passed the interview.
The thesis, if any, is assigned by the course teacher, after an interview with the student.

Teaching tools

Slides, case-studies based on judgments of the Constitutional Court on public finance may be made available to students through the Unibo website dedicated to online teaching materials.
Through the same Unibo website, students may be provided with optional tools to verify learning on certain topics or parts of the program (self-assessment test).
Students who, for reasons related to disabilities or specific learning disorders (DSA), need compensatory tools, can communicate their needs to the teacher in order to be addressed to the referents and agree on the adoption of the most appropriate measures.

Office hours

See the website of Giangiacomo D'Angelo