A form of government, such as democracy, which the Russian Federation seeks so much, is impossible without respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, without separation of powers, without freedom of speech and many other principles of the rule of law.
First you need to understand what federalism is and what its basic and budgetary principles are. Federalism is a single system within one state, divided into areas that partially retain their independence in the economic, political, social, cultural and other spheres of society. In other words, each state entity with a federal structure has the right to amend local legislation, as well as to the distribution of budget funds.
The development of federalism in Russia has a long and thorny path. With the introduction of the Constitution, adopted by popular vote in 1993, Russia received the status of a federation. Article 5, part 3 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation spells out the basic principles of federalism. So, the basic principles of federalism are that:
- Firstly, each subject of the federation (region, autonomous region, region, autonomous region, city of federal significance) has its own legislation and charter. Republics have a constitution and local laws.
- Secondly, there is a division of objects of jurisdiction between the bodies of territorial units of the federation and state authorities.
- Thirdly, despite the size of the territory, all subjects of the Russian Federation have equal, equal rights and a common economic, political, social status.
- Fourth, the Constitution enshrines the principle of federalism, which states that all peoples who live on the territory of the Russian Federation are equal and have the right to self-determination (that is, the right to indicate their political status within the state, the cultural, social course of development of society, and change the territorial form and etc.).
- Fifth, in spite of the delimitation of areas of jurisdiction between state authorities and bodies of subjects, a unified, integrated system of government exists in the state.
Of course, the principles of federalism, enshrined in article 5 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, are necessary for the creation of a democratic state. But if we analyze modern Russian reality with its multinational people and vast territory, the principles of federalism open up a huge number of problems that require immediate solutions (this includes equal subsidies to the subjects of the Russian Federation to support the economy, and infringement of citizens' rights on a national basis, etc.).
The Constitution of the Russian Federation also defines the basic principles of fiscal federalism (Article 73). The principles of fiscal federalism mean that each territorial unit of the federation has independence in fiscal activities. But the budget activity of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation should not diverge in the principles of a unified state budget policy, goals, objectives and development courses of the economy of the Federation as a whole, the implementation of which should come from the federal budget.
The basic principle of fiscal federalism in the Russian Federation is that there is a single tax and budget system throughout the state. The unity or integrity of the budget system lies in the fact that, firstly, the federation has a single monetary system, and, secondly, the same sanctions are applied for violations of the legislation relating to the budget of the Russian Federation. The second principle of fiscal federalism is the independence of the budgets of entities, in other words, territorial units have the right, within the limits of their competence, to carry out the budget process, legislate tax fees, and develop plans for spending and receiving finances. The third principle is the equality of budgetary rights.