In the final quarter of the 20th century the overall income of Austrian parties has rested on two major and two minor pillars.
Up to 1975 membership fees, donations and assessments of officeholder ("party taxes" in Austrian parlance) had been the three sources of political funding.
[6] In December 2011 the Council of Europe's Group of States against corruption (GRECO) has recommended to Austria "to ensure that the future legislation on the financing of political parties and election campaigns provides for adequate accounting standards" and "to ensure that the future legislation ... requires the consolidation of party accounts and annual financial statements so as to include all territorial sections of the parties and other entities under their control".
[7] Following this advice, in 2012 Austrian legislation has addressed a variety of issues and has caught up to the German level of regulation.
[8] In a Compliance Report (adopted on 28 March 2014), however, GRECO has stated that it "is pleased to see that Austria has come a long way".