In accordance with the Law on Local Government Systems, most local government revenues in Taiwan come from three sources: their own taxes, the Tax Redistribution Fund, and central government subsidies. Under the Law Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures, the lion's share of taxes collected by local governments goes to the central government.
根據地方制度法規定，台灣的地方政府收入大致主要來自各種稅收、統籌稅款、補助及協助收入三大部份，而由於現行財政收支劃分法（財劃法）是大稅歸中央，小稅歸地方，使得中央集中了絕大多數的財政收入，也使得地方財政在制度性結構下，受制且依賴中央。