Why is there tension between the state and the local levels of government? It is well known that within a state the government that holds the power is the state not the local government. With that being said, this unitary system between the state and its localities faces problems when managing both governments with in sharing boundaries. Two of the biggest says that the State government has over the local Governments is how much power it allows the localities to exercises. Many states don't allow localities to exercises much power causing them to share their ordinances and other legislation with the state before allowing the locality to exercise them at first. Other states actually allow their localities to exercise the majority of the power without having to go through the state first. Even with the power exercise the main conflict which they have is finances. Local government rely heavily on state funds. Although the localities can place taxes on estates and roads majority of t...