Knowledge management is a key element of any prosperous organisation. Under local government conditions, modern management trends are applied slowly and gradually. The aim of this article is to identify the current state of knowledge management as an instrument for increasing efficiency of municipality management in Slovakia. Focus is on the analysis of perception, application, and barriers of knowledge management. These issues are investigated on theoretical and practical level, with collection of data by the questionnaire method in selected municipalities in Slovakia. The result is that in the self-governments systematic knowledge management is still weak. Attention to this area of management is growing and various benefits have been declared, but there is a certain lack of knowledge in terms such as knowledge, information, data, etc., more precisely confusion with other concepts. There is a lack of emphasis on the sharing of knowledge while technological understanding of this concept is dominating.

The article discusses the implementation of the global concepts of smart city or smart municipality at the local level, focusing on the importance of mayor as a leader and his competencies in this context. The status of elected representatives of self-government in the branch of labour law is legislatively only marginally regulated, with insufficient terminological and functional interconnection between special legislation and labour law. The aim of the authors is to point out the relationship between the current legislation on prelegal relations between the mayor and his leadership duties and powers and to identify barriers in the implementation of the concept of smart cities in the Slovak Republic. The objective of the scientific study is determined based directly on current needs and emerging practical issues. Understanding and applying these correctly has a fundamental impact on the possibilities of rules in local government. Methodologically, our research relies on the basic methods of scientific abstraction in the context of the analysis of de lege lata legislation with a thorough application of the methods of legal logic. The authors draw attention to the partial questions of the labour status and educational census of the Mayor of the Municipality in the context of smart city concept and propose solutions.

Like many developed countries in the world, China currently faces many serious demographic challenges that pose a potential risk to the country’s socio-economic development and stability. The current demographic development and trend is characterized by a change in the reproductive behavior of the population, characterized by a decline in birth rates, a change in family behavior, and a shift in the value system. This paper is aimed at identifying the impact of population policy and the degree of its influence on both the economic and social system of the country. Based on a deterministic approach, the findings reveal and demonstrate the serious demographic challenges facing China, and we are noting that there is no guarantee that parametric adjustments, such as shifting the retirement age, will de facto ensure the financial health of the pension system by preventing bankruptcy. We point out the risks and prospects for the sustainability of China’s socio-economic development based on an analysis of past and current Chinese demographic policy.

The study focuses on budget policy implementation at the level of local governments in Slovakia in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The research problem focuses on identifying shortfalls in initially planned funds to local government budgets caused by the COVID-19 crisis and the potential ways individual local governments in Slovakia have been able to cover them. The aim of the study is to identify the accepted crisis mechanisms for solving financial shortfalls in local budgets due to the pandemic situation. In the descriptive-analytical study qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Available information on Slovakia indicates several main findings. It has been confirmed the pandemic had negative effects for of all local governments nationwide, regardless of the status of the town or municipality. The municipal fiscal imbalance as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and municipal financial resources are not commensurate and the most important tool that municipalities have the opportunity to use is their reserve funds. Consequently, they have become highly dependent on repayable financial assistance from the state. The authors contribute to the ongoing debate about the current Covid-19 crisis and its consequences for local government finance.

Tax sovereignty is now an expression of the phenomenon of state power. In general, there is a widespread but also accepted view that a citizen is dependent on the state and the state is dependent on tax resources. The social status of a citizen in the state is of great importance; it affects the development of personality and, last but not least, reflects the degree of democracy acquired in a particular state. Various tax law measures for the benefit of the citizen are important for the identification of social behavior and are an attempt to improve certain ways of life. The aim and ambition of this article is to emphasize the tools of social policy (e.g., minimum wage, subsistence minimum, social right to work) that are related to the social function of taxing income. In this context, the authors deal with a social function of tax collection and imposing of taxes, justice in taxation, and point out social aspects of the system of taxes in the Slovak Republic. In this article, the authors present the attitudes of both critics and proponents. It also deals with tax justice, which is often a category subjective to the evaluator. The benchmarking attribute of tax collection should be that citizens will have the certainty of social justice in the state and will therefore pay attention to the minimum wage and subsistence minimum as an integral part of tax policy under the legal conditions of the Slovak Republic. All tax legislation, especially tax reform, is perceived with a certain sensitivity regarding tax subjects.