The Russian system of federalism is in the midst of a difficult transi
tion from a highly centralized to a more decentralized regime. It is a
reasonable proposition that the final solution will somehow be a kind
of assignment system, but it is unclear what path will have to be fol
lowed to reach that stated goal. The present system of revenue sharing
is based on shared taxes and subventions. It is a two-tiered system,
with the federal government laying down the rules for central-oblast s
haring, and each oblast making the rules for the local governments wit
hin its jurisdiction. This paper updates a World Bank analysis of the
revenue-sharing system in the Russian Federation, using actual data fo
r 1992 and the most current tax-sharing rules and adds some empirical
evidence to what is known about the intra-oblast dimension of revenue
sharing.