Local Administration Finances in Romania during the Second World War (1939-1945)

The article presents the evolution of local finances in Romania during the Second World War. Using the documents of the time, we analyze the consequences of the legislative changes in the field of administration upon the income sources of the local administrations, upon the evolution and the structure of their budgetary incomes and expenses, the measures taken by the central and local authorities with a view to sorting out the difficulties resulted from the crisis or from the war. The main conclusion of the paper is that the ever-increasing needs in the field of war financing determined a substantial reduction in the local administrations incomes, which were highly dependent upon the state fiscal system. The decrease in production (economic activity) in the main fields and domains of the national economy in the last years of the war, together with the significant decrease in general consumption, also negatively influenced the revenue of the local administrations. The difficult conditions between 1939 and 1945 postponed the reform projects in the field of local finances, in the sense of increasing the financial resource volume required to achieve the economic, social and cultural functions of counties and communes.