Estado unitario y descentralizado e impacto en la autonomía financiera en municipios de sexta categoría

Abstract

Colombia in force of the Political Constitution of 1886, as well as with the Unitary State model instituted in the Political Constitution of 1991, at the municipal territorial level it has been projected in an ideal situation where the principles of autonomy and self-management in the political, administrative and find a significant development. However, it was not until the early eighties that, through the strengthening of tax collection at the local level, the increase in transfers to the territorial entities and the popular election of mayors, as well as the reforms that were deepened later with the Constitution of 1991; that really begins the decentralization process in Colombia (Serrano and Acosta, 2011; Maldonado, 2005). In this sense, the need arises to frame what is necessary for communities, territories and municipalities, within the framework of regional development; have a decentralized, autonomous structure that expressly watches over the known interests in the territory, since regional development is subject to decentralization (Abardía and Morales, 2008). For this reason, the review of the fiscal autonomy of the sixth category municipality is relevant to identify the financing model, establish its main sources of cost in relation to its powers to detect those outstanding aspects subject to proposals or adjustments.

With the issuance of the Political Constitution of 1991, the change from a rule of law to a social state of law with participatory democracy, recognition of new rights, that is, a State with participation and intervention in the market, is evident; in turn, the State was considered to have an essential political centralism capable of being decentralized by organs that participate in the activity of the State, although they are subject to the hierarchical authority that emanates from the center. Said figure presupposes granting legal status rooted in the autonomy and capacity of each decentralized entity on the occasion of the fulfillment of the purposes of the State. In the case of the present investigation, the impact of the financial autonomy granted as a result of the fiscal decentralization of the sixth category municipalities was taken as the central axis, taking into account that according to the Political Charter it establishes that such decentralization occurs for services or for territory and considering those to the Municipalities, Departments, Districts and Indigenous territories. Thus, an element that instigates the development of this research has to do with the evaluation of the social circumstances, the deficiencies and the specific problems faced by each territory once affected by the absence of a decentralized directive political structure, which would promote the development of the regions and the periphery, that is, according to Maldonado (2005), the space in which the government centralizes taxation, credit, public officials and most public spending, including a large number of local functions. This scenario led to an environment of complete regional underdevelopment with respect to the capital city (Ordóñez, 2019), a scenario that Maldonado (2005) describes the centralization process, where the provinces and municipalities, with the exception of the main cities and some capitals Provincial, they were under-resourced and functional, adding higher-ranking mayors and governors to the administrative structure, resulting in a lack of capacity to meet the country's demands. The local authorities and apathetic and alienated population are unable to meet the needs of many backward small and medium-sized cities, the national organization was in crisis.

The Colombian State from the constitutional and jurisprudential has undertaken a constant struggle to generate favorable conditions for the development of the entire national territory, from the Political Constitution of 1991, with the establishment of the Unitary State model and under the principle of decentralization has sought that the municipalities most exposed to the social problems typical of the rural context, can ensure the correct distribution of resources based on administrative and financial autonomy. The foregoing is verified in the Constitution in articles 287 and 300, in addition to the Organic Law of Territorial Planning LOOT 1454 and in Law 1962 of 2019. However, the constant contradictions around the issue of territorial autonomy are evident, since highlights the need for decentralization and the autonomy of sixth-category municipalities in administrative and financial matters, while, in turn, stresses the need for accompaniment and power is conferred on different levels of the State, thus generating a dependency on territorial entities and therefore, falling back on political centralisms that prevent the development of practices derived from administrative and budgetary autonomy. However, in relation to the sources of financing, the sixth category municipalities present exogenous income, that is, the income from the nation, such as royalties and transfers that the National Government grants to the municipalities. As well as endogenous income, which refers to the financing granted by the same municipality from the different collection activities, such as tax income. The intention set forth in the Political Constitution of 1991 provides these municipalities with the ability to make budgetary decisions, where the municipal administration determines whether these revenues are used to pay expenses or in investment activities. However, the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court that has established different margins of intervention, where the main argument is the protection of the economic stability of the Nation, can intervene in the decisions made by local administrations, establishing an ambivalence. Then, according to what was found, the financing problem is entirely due to the fact that exogenous sources of income are, in most cases, the main source of income for municipalities. Regarding the jurisprudential and constitutional perspectives, where it was found that despite the apparent political will of a commitment to administrative decentralization, the State, the ruling class, has not guaranteed the exercise of this in the sense that it has not been effective, since the municipalities do not have financial capital to promote projects or to execute them, and therefore, they are in a state of economic and social stagnation; It is agreed that more than issuing a new political agenda that further promotes transfers from the State to territorial entities, what is required is rather the promotion and creation of new markets, economic development based on production , the expansion of productive capacity, and a series of processes carried out by the State and the administration that seek to provide all these communities and municipalities with the capacity to create business, industry, and commerce, in such a way that the dynamics can be accelerated. of production, consumption and circulation within the different municipal markets. Concatenating with the problem of financing sources, it is estimated that after implementing these state programs and agendas, the municipalities should gradually endow themselves with the capacity to produce their own income. In this way, from this study the above is recommended under the idea that it is the way in which the sixth category municipalities can get out of the economic collapse that for decades has left them in the shadow of the Central Government and lagging behind in terms of growth. economic; without leaving aside the possibility of a transition towards a form of State differentiated from centralism, such as federalism, since this opens the possibility of generating true administrative and financial autonomy.