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| Revenue Ruling, Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993 | |
| Revenues, Reversal |
In general, any scheme for balancing taxing and spending between tiers of government, especially in federal systems. Without revenue sharing, rich regions of a country will be able to raise more than poor regions, but require to spend less. Therefore, any country in which there is pressure for redistributive politics will face pressure for revenue sharing, even if its constitution divides the power to tax among tiers of government. In particular, the term is used in the United States to denote arrangements whereby federal revenue is shared with state and local governments, with certain conditions attached.
Revenue Sharing occurs when a government shares part of its tax income with other governments. State governments, for example, may share revenue with local governments, while national governments can share revenue with state governments. The amount of revenue shared is determined by law. Generally, the governments that receive the monies are free from any stipulations about or controls on how to use them. In some cases, however, the receiving government may be required to match the amount granted.
Forms of revenue sharing have been used in several countries, including Canada and Switzerland. In the United States, the idea of revenue sharing evolved in response to complaints that many of the vigorously monitored grant-in-aid programs created their own expensive and inefficient bureaucracies. Under the auspices of economist Walter Heller, the U.S. government created its own revenue-sharing programs. In October 1972, President Richard M. Nixon signed into law the State and Local Assistance Act, a modest revenue-sharing plan that allocated $30.2 billion to be spread over a five-year period. The funds were distributed so that one-third went to state governments and two-thirds to local governments. Matching funds were not required, and broad discretionary powers were given to the state and local governments in spending the funds.
However, not everyone embraced the idea of revenue sharing; critics of the program argued that revenue sharing replaced rather than supplemented categorical grants and was inadequate to meet the needs of big cities. Nevertheless, the Gerald Ford and James Earl Carter administrations continued the experiment in revenue sharing. Between 1972 and 1986, money collected in federal taxes was given to state and local governments, with few restrictions placed on how those funds could be used. The notion guiding this practice was that local and state needs varied, and elected officials at either level would be more effective at identifying those needs than would officials of the federal government. Communities held public hearings on how the money ought to be spent. One of the few stipulations imposed upon localities and states was that there could be no racial discrimination on how the monies were dispersed. Public audits were also required. As a result, small towns and counties, as well as large cities, received direct federal aid.
During the fourteen years in which the program operated, administrative costs were extremely low and a total of $85 billion reached American communities. General revenue sharing continued into the 1980s, although the amounts allocated steadily diminished. Although still in use, revenue sharing was hampered by the general downturn in the economy that took place after September 2001, which left less money available to fund such programs.
Bibliography
Dommel, Paul R. The Politics of Revenue Sharing. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1974.
Wallin, Bruce A. From Revenue Sharing to Deficit Sharing: General Revenue Sharing and Cities. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1998.
A transfer of tax revenue from one unit of government, such as the federal government, to other units, such as state governments.

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Revenue sharing has multiple, related meanings depending on context.
In business, revenue sharing refers to the sharing of profits and losses among different groups. One form shares between the general partner(s) and limited partners in a limited partnership. Another form shares with a company's employees, and another between companies in a business alliance.
On the Internet, revenue sharing is also known as cost per sale, and accounts for about 80% of affiliate compensation programs.[1] E-commerce web site operators using revenue sharing pay affiliates a certain percentage of sales revenues (usually excluding tax, shipping and other 3rd party cost that the customer pays) generated by customers whom the affiliate refer via various advertising methods. Another form of online revenue sharing consists in people working together and registering online in a way similar to that of a corporation, and sharing the proceeds. A third form of revenue sharing on the internet consists of enticing internet users to sign up and create content by offering a share of advertising revenue.
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United States government revenue sharing was in place from 1972-1986. Under this policy, Congress gave an annual amount of federal tax revenue to the states and their cities, counties and townships. Revenue sharing was extremely popular with state officials, but it lost federal support during the Reagan Administration. In 1987, revenue sharing was replaced with block grants in smaller amounts to reduce federal revenues given to states.[citation needed]
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