There is a tendency for academic and policy-making circles to advocate the decentralisation of taxation powers to regions as a way of improving their accountability. But these proposals overlook an important aspect of fiscal autonomy: when is this power employed? And what kind of taxes are introduced?

Taking advantage of the commemoration on the 40th anniversary of the Autonomous State, our paper will answer these questions by studying differences in the taxation of policy of Spanish Autonomous Communities. The objective is to identify the set of conditions that explain the timing at which taxes are introduced, the kind of taxes that are imposed and the level of taxation rates. In our paper we will evaluate the relative influence of the preferences of regional political forces for different taxation regimes and the need for revenue that is determined by regions’ spending and budgetary commitments.