The paper aims to clarify and determine the definition of liability for tax evasion (financial, administrative. and criminal); to identify the main legal and financial problems of different types of liability in Ukraine; to define possible ways of solving these problems based on the law and economics theory and foreign legal experience of the countries that have already implemented corporate liability for tax evasion (the USA, the UK). The study investigates the gaps in legislation that enable tax violations and do not motivate corporations and managers to deter crime, including the uncertainty of legislation on types of liability and its non-compliance with international practice; a low level of fines for tax violations and a low level of criminal liability qualification; absence of corporate liability for tax evasion, which is essential to deter crimes; the lack of reporting and whistleblowing due to the low security level. It is grounded that the range measures has to be taken to reduce the number of tax offences and increase the effectiveness of tax penalties in Ukraine. It is necessary to create preconditions for financial and administrative liability application instead of criminal liability. There is a need for introducing a strict corporate administrative and criminal liability for tax evasion. The government has to increase the limits of criminal liability since they are too low compared to international practice. The strong legislative system of whistleblowers' protection is needed to ensure the reporting of wrongdoings.

The purpose of the article is to identify the correspondence between the revenue and expenditure parts of local budgets, which are responsible for the significant part of state expenditure financing due to financial decentralization reform. The article provides a comparative analysis of decentralization levels of local budgets in Ukraine and European countries by revenues and expenditures, as well as analyzes the structure of revenues and expenditures of the consolidated budget which include state and local budgets. The article notes that over the past ten years, the gap between revenue and expenditure has narrowed due to decentralization reform, but fiscal balance has not been achieved. The results of the analysis demonstrate the existence of a significant vertical imbalance in the budget system of Ukraine, which consists in the insufficiency of own and fixed financial resources of local authorities to ensure their powers. In terms of income decentralization, Ukraine ranks middle among Eastern European countries, while the level of expenditure decentralization corresponds to the level of Scandinavian countries, where the state plays an active role in income redistribution and has high institutional efficiency and high social standards. The article substantiates that the vertical imbalance exist due to the inefficient structure of local budgets' revenues, in particular the high share of transfer payments from the state budget to local budgets, as well as the low share of own revenues, namely local taxes, in tax revenues. In order to strengthen the revenue side of local budgets and reduce vertical imbalances it is proposed to increase the tax base of local taxes through development of business and welfare in the regions, to increase the share of deductions from corporate tax and personal income tax to local budgets, to improve the control over local budget revenues and to optimize local expenditures, including social protection and social security expenditures. As the practice of foreign countries with decentralized budget systems shows, the elimination of vertical imbalances leads to a significant increase in the fiscal capacity of the regions.

The article assesses the local budgets independence using statistiсal methods and includes system dynamics research with a simplified explanatory model of aggregated municipal deposits. Using the method of analytical equalization, the share of local budgets’ own funds was calculated, as they are a source of financial stability and independence.A system dynamics hypothesis and model revealed important feedback mechanisms that play a role in financial autonomy and general financial well-being of municipalities – a higher deficit drives a higher debt that drives a higher deficit back; lower local tax revenues will bring higher transfers in the upcoming year; negative population growth decreases consumption, labor force, and other indicators, etc. The general reason for low financial autonomy lies in high dependency on transfers and income-based taxes, while taxes that are classified as local lay on businesses, which need more support. Some aspects revealed the need for deeper research and addition to the model – municipal borrowing and property markets. The model has been validated and built confidence through various tests, but yet it has serious assumptions, limitations, and aspects outside of the model boundary. Nevertheless the model has a potential for expansion and solving mode issues regarding this system or to be recalibrated for specific reasons and areas. The research can be used by the municipalities in Ukraine and needs to be updated with new data and expanded. JEL classification: E62, H21, H61, H72

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