The process of transforming regions into self-developing ones presupposes availability of financial resources enabling them to carry out independent financial and economic policies. The state fiscal regulation, being a tool for managing the development of territories, should contribute to enhancing the process of self-development in the northern regions by creating incentives for all participants of economic relations to search for additional financial sources, and full use of territorial resources and opportunities. The paper assesses the regulatory impact of the state fiscal policy on the development of northern regions of the Russian Federation. It is shown that the federal tax regulation does not provide the required stimulating effect for economic agents of the northern regions toward their development and active participation in territorial economic processes. It is shown that a high degree of centralization of tax powers determines the leading role of federal tax legislation in the management of regional processes. An obstacle to implementation of regional tax initiatives are limited financial resources of territorial budgets. It is determined that the consequence of budgetary regulation is the preservation of negative trends in the budget system of the northern regions. The low fiscal capacity of the northern regions causes difficulties for socioeconomic policy and does not contribute to increasing living standard of the population. The practical significance of the study is in identification of topical problems of fiscal relations, development of directions of the fiscal policy and mechanisms of fiscal regulation. The proposed by the author typology of northern regions of the Russian Federation identifying groups of regions depending on their financial potentialities and level of economic potential as well as regional problems of development of the northern regions became the basis for substantiation of the state policy directions. 1. Introduction