The main elements of the state budget. The state budget as the main element of the state's economic policy
Budget- This is a specific detailed plan for the collection and use of resources by economic agents for a certain period.
- a document describing the income and expenses of a particular state, as a rule, for the year (from January 1 to December 31).
Functions of the state budget:
- Regulates the state's cash flows, strengthens ties between the center and the subjects of the federation
- Legally controls the actions of the government
- Carries information about the intentions of the government to participants in economic activity
- Defines parameters economic policy and sets a framework possible actions governments
Due to the special importance of the state budget for all spheres of economic life, its preparation, approval and implementation take place at the level of laws. At the same time, the state budget itself is a law.
Almost every economic institution (enterprise, firm, industry, bank, economic and financial funds, etc.) has a plan for collecting income and using expenses. All socio-political institutions (state organizations, political parties, etc.) also have budgets.
The state budget serves as a prerequisite and financial basis for the functioning of the state and the implementation by it of those functions that society has authorized it to carry out. With the help of the budget, the issues of financial regulation at the macrolevel and across the entire economy are resolved. Economic significance the budget consists in the fact that it forms a significant part of the final demand (due to its funds, most of the income from the population is formed, large volumes of products are purchased, and state reserves are created). Significant financial flows, it directly affects the formation of important economic indicators(fig. 1):
State budget revenues - the final stage cash flows coming from the real sector and other large areas financial relations, and expenditures of the state budget are the starting point for the movement of state resources for the needs outlined by the state and society (Fig. 2).
Rice. 1. The impact of the state budget on key economic indicators:- Volume of production
- Invitations
- Real income
The state budget is the main financial plan of a country and has the force of law.
The budget is a way of redistributing monetary incomes of the population, enterprises and other legal entities in the interests of financing government and other public expenditures.
State budget revenues:
- Income taxes of legal entities and individuals
- Revenues from the real sector (income tax)
- Receipt of indirect taxes and excise taxes
- Duties and Nontax Fees
- Regional and local taxes
State budget expenditures:
- Industry
- Social politics
- Agriculture
- Public administration
- International activity
- Defense
- Law enforcement activity
- The science
- Health care
Balanced budget - a budget in which the ratio of income and expenses is equal.
If revenues and expenditures in the budget differ, then the budget deficit or surplus.
The spending of state budget funds is carried out in the directions and in the amounts determined by federal law, laws and other regulatory legal acts of the subjects of state power. State budget expenditures can be classified according to different featured, the most important of which is financing the state of its functions: economic, social, defense etc.
The following expenses are financed from the federal budget:- maintenance of the authorities;
- national defense;
- funding for science;
- financing of the real sector;
- the formation of state reserves;
- servicing and repayment of public debt (internal and external);
- regulation of the financial potential of the subjects of the state (federal or unitary).
- state support of industries (construction, Agriculture, transport, communication);
- ensuring law enforcement;
- ensuring fire safety;
- science and social and cultural events.
The main principle of delineating expenditures between budgets is their adequacy to the powers assigned to the respective level of government.
Budget expenditures are also subdivided according to the principle of their participation in the process of expanded reproduction.
According to the principle of participation in the process of expanded reproduction, budget expenditures are divided into current and capital expenditures.
Running costs- This:
- maintenance of authorities, administration and law enforcement agencies;
- current spending on defense, science, social sphere;
- individual compensation costs by industry.
Capital expenditures are divided into:
- New construction;
- reconstruction of important objects of state and municipal property.
Among priority state budget expenditures are allocated:
- social spending;
- military spending;
- the maintenance of the judicial system;
- education and healthcare.
The state as a subject of the economy carries out certain expenses and has certain incomes.
Main part government spending passes through the state budget.
The draft state budget is annually discussed and adopted by the legislative body, in Russia it is the State Duma. In addition to the state budget, the budgetary system of the country includes the budgets of the constituent entities of the Federation and the budgets of cities and municipalities... The drafts of these budgets are discussed and approved by regional and local legislatures.
The following principles of building relationships between the budgets of different levels (federal, budgets of the constituent entities of the Federation, local budgets) are possible:
The principle of democratic centralism involves the inclusion of budgets of all levels in the state budget (until 1991, the state budget of the RSFSR, like the budgets of other union republics, was included in the state budget of the USSR. Thus, it included all the country's budgets, rural and township budgets).
The principle of fiscal federalism assumes that the budgets of lower levels function autonomously, i.e. do not include their income and expenses in the budgets of lower levels. This does not exclude the possibility of redistribution Money between budgets.
To achieve a certain balance of budgets of various levels, the state resorts to such financial instruments, how:
subventions- strictly earmarked funds;
subsidies- fixed amounts of funds allocated to replenish income and minimize budget deficits at the lower level (negative tax):
credit resources- funds transferred on a reimbursable basis with or without interest.
The state budget reflects the monetary relations that the state has with legal and individuals on the redistribution of national income in connection with education and the use of funds to finance the economy, implement social policy, develop science, culture, education, ensure the country's defense and manage society. Thus, the financial relations that arise between organizations and the population with the state are budgetary relations. The budget makes it possible to concentrate the financial resources of the state on those sectors of the economy that are the most important at this historical stage.
In modern conditions, the budget is also a powerful means of state regulation of the economy, influencing the economic situation, and a tool for implementing anti-crisis measures.
The essence of the budget is realized through its functions.
Budget allocation function- means the concentration of funds in the hands of the state and their use in order to meet national needs.
Budget control function- lies in the fact that the budget objectively, through the formation and use of the fund of state funds, reflects the economic processes taking place in the structural links of the economy.
The budget as a plan of income and expenses consists of two parts - income and expenditure. Budget revenues and expenditures are special economic forms, on the basis of which there is a redistribution of created in society financial resources.
The system of budgetary receipts is based on taxes and fees.
The budget is used to finance the national economy, social and cultural events, and the country's defense.
In the structure of expenditures on the economy, the largest part is financing from the budget of the most important and large economic programs, the implementation of investment policy, and environmental protection measures.
Significant budgetary funds spent on the implementation of socio-cultural activities are aimed at developing education, maintaining culture, providing health care to the population and providing social support to the population in need of it.
Defense expenditures are dominated by purchases of weapons and military equipment, expenses for the current upkeep of the armed forces, financing of research and development work for military purposes, and military construction.
Government spending tends to grow. Growth in government spending was predicted by a German economist A. Wagner, former adviser to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck back in the 19th century. Wagner formulated law of increasing state activity, according to which government spending in countries where industry is developing should grow faster than the volume of national income.
The main reasons for the increase in state activity:
The complication of the entire system of socio-economic relations, which increases the number of reasons for all kinds of friction in society (the state needs more and more funds to maintain stability and efficiency in the economy, maintain law and order, for the maintenance of law enforcement agencies, etc.).
The development of new technologies creating the need for large quantities of capital required for production, which can be provided by public corporations.
Growing government activity in areas such as health care and education, where the benefits of service delivery defy economic evaluation.
Public services, according to Wagner, have become a high-quality good, i.e. the elasticity of demand for government spending on the part of households has increased 1. In other words, each percentage increase in household income leads to more than a 1% increase in household demand for government spending ( G). Therefore, with an increase in per capita income, the share G in GDP also has an upward trend.
The state, implementing its functions through the state budget, relies on the following principles of the organizational structure of the system of public expenditures:
- principle of targeted direction of budget funds- means that government expenditures are carried out strictly according to their intended purpose in accordance with the directions of expenditures provided by the financial plans;
- principle of irrevocability of expenditure- means that funds used for various purposes do not need to be reimbursed. This method of providing funds is called “ budget financing ".
- principle of compliance with the economy- means that minimization of costs relative to the result obtained, or rational, expedient use of funds.
The ideal execution of the state budget is the full coverage of expenses by income and the formation of a balance of funds, i.e. excess of income over expenses. Full compliance of income over expenditures characterizes a balanced budget. Some excess of income over expenses is called « budget surplus» ... In this case, they say that the state has surplus budget... However, in practice, the opposite situation is more common and education budget deficit.
Budget deficit Is the excess of budget expenditures over revenues: Budget Deficit = Expenditure - Income |
The size of the budget deficit is influenced by fluctuations in the volume of national output. During periods of crisis, depression, when GDP declines, the budget, as a rule, runs into a deficit, while during periods of growth, there is a positive budget balance.
The reasons for these changes in the fiscal balance lie in the fact that during recessions, tax revenues fall. At the same time, during recessions, some types of government spending increase (unemployment benefits and other social benefits). The relationship between the budget and the volume of GDP can be illustrated using Fig. 10.1.
Rice. 10.1. The relationship between budget and GDP
Suppose government spending is 200 monetary units, but tax rate- 0.2. With income Y= 0 no tax revenue. When revenues increase to 1000 units, then tax revenues become equal to government expenditures (200 units). With an income of 1,500 units, government spending would amount to 300 units, and so on. Thus, with a low level of income, a state budget deficit occurs, with a high level - budget surplus - a surplus.
Which is better: surplus or deficit? If there is a surplus in the state budget, i.e. the state levies more through taxes than it gives back, this means that there are more withdrawals from the macroeconomic turnover than injections. As a result, there is a reduction in GDP. On the contrary, if the state budget is in deficit, i.e. his expenses exceed income, injections become more than seizures. This means that purchasing power is increasing and GDP is increasing. Thus, it turns out that the deficit is not an indicator of poor management. Nevertheless, the state budget deficit is a controversial phenomenon.
There are two main points of view on the formation of the state budget. The first is that the budget must be balanced annually. The second point of view admits in some periods the existence budget deficit 1 only requires that after a number of years (3–5) a balance be secured. According to established international standards, the budget deficit should not exceed 3% of GDP.
Keynesian scholars argue that a budget deficit is a blessing because it makes it possible to increase aggregate demand through deficit financing of public spending. If the state pays more money than it receives, then this increases the purchasing power in society - people buy more, enterprises sell more, increasing the employment of resources. On the other hand, a budget deficit is a failure to meet the needs of society, which gives rise to various negative economic phenomena.
The reasons for the budget deficit can be different.
First, the deficit may be associated with the need to make large state investments in the development of the economy and reflect the natural processes of regulation of the economic situation.
Secondly, a deficit can arise as a result of extraordinary circumstances (wars, natural disasters), when funds are required in excess of the planned and usual results are not enough.
The budget deficit arising for these two reasons is called “ structural budget deficit».
Thirdly, the cause of the deficit may be a cyclical drop in production as a manifestation of crisis phenomena in the economy, the inability of the government to control financial situation in the country. This deficit is called “ cyclical budget deficit". It unambiguously represents an undesirable and negative phenomenon in the economy.
Where can the state get funds to finance the budget deficit?
There are four ways:
by issuing additional money;
at the expense of loans from the Central Bank;
by borrowing from the population and firms;
through external borrowing.
Each of these methods has its own pros and cons.
The advantages of the first two are that their use makes it possible to avoid crowding out private investments by public ones, so business expenses and personal consumption will not decrease. However, their use is fraught with increased inflation.
In the case of financing the state budget deficit due to the emission of money, the state receives a special income (income from printing money seigniorage). It occurs when the gain is exceeded money supply pleased with the growth in real GNP, which leads to an increase in the average price level. As a result, all economic agents pay a kind of tax, and part of the income is redistributed in favor of the state.
Recall that with a significant budget deficit, which is covered by additional emission, hyperinflation may occur. With such inflation, there is a sharp depreciation of all income, including tax revenues, which further exacerbates the problem of the budget deficit. Thus, hyperinflation, on the one hand, arises as a result of the budget deficit, on the other hand, it exacerbates it even more. This phenomenon is called Tanzi-Oliver effect 2 .
This effect arises because in a period of hyperinflation, budget revenues from direct taxes have time to depreciate in the interval between the receipt of income and the payment of tax.
If the budget deficit is financed by issuing government loans, then this leads to an increase in the market rate of bank interest. And an increase in the interest rate leads to a rise in the cost of loans and a decrease in the volume of investments.
According to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation, the size of the budget deficit of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation cannot exceed 15% of the volume of budget revenues of a constituent entity, excluding financial aid from the federal budget.
Deficit size local budget approved by the regulatory act of the representative body local government, cannot exceed 10% of the volume of local budget revenues, excluding financial assistance from the federal budget and the budget of the subject Russian Federation.
If in the process of budget execution there is an excess of the maximum deficit level or a significant decrease in revenue from budget revenue sources, then a mechanism for sequestering 3 expenditures is introduced, which consists in a proportional decrease in government spending (by 5, 10, 15 and so on percent) monthly for all budget items in for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Protected articles are not subject to sequestration (their composition is determined by the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, as well as by the representative authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation).
Sources of financing the budget deficit are approved by the legislative (representative) authorities in the law on the budget for the next fiscal year by the main types of funds raised.
Loans from the Bank of Russia, as well as the acquisition by the Bank of Russia of debt obligations of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities during their initial placement cannot be sources of financing the budget deficit.
The sources of financing the federal budget deficit are:
1) internal sources in the following forms:
Loans received from credit institutions in the currency of the Russian Federation;
Government loans carried out by issuing securities on behalf of the Russian Federation;
Budget loans and budget loans received from budgets of other levels of the budget system;
Proceeds from the sale of state-owned property;
The amount of the excess of income over expenditures on state reserves and reserves;
Changes in the balances of funds on accounts for accounting for federal budget funds;
2) external sources in the following forms:
State loans carried out in foreign currency by issuing securities on behalf of the Russian Federation;
Loans from foreign governments, banks and firms, international financial organizations, provided in foreign currency.
In the presence of a budget deficit, the primary financing is subject to expenses included in the budget of current expenditures. The size of the federal budget deficit cannot exceed the total volume of budget investments and expenses for servicing the state debt of the Russian Federation in the corresponding financial year.
As a result of government loans, state debt(fig.10.2).
The state debt of Russia as of January 1, 2009 was equal to $ 40.6 billion, which amounted to 2.4% of GDP.
Rice. 10.2. Aggregate government debt structure
It can take forms internal and external debt. Usually loans are placed domestically, but some of them can be placed abroad.
It exists as the sum of issued and outstanding debt obligations.
The part that the state borrows to cover the state budget deficit abroad will thus be included in both state and foreign debt. This is the heaviest debt, since the state is bound by a number of obligations on it, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, when it is repaid, one has to pay in valuable goods and pay high interest.
What is important is not the debt itself or even its absolute value, although this is also significant, but its ratio to GDP. There are international criteria for the size of public debt. Thus, according to the criterion of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty 4. (Maastricht standard), the total public debt (internal and external) should not exceed 60% of GDP, and the state budget deficit should not exceed 3% of GDP. There are also criteria for external loans:
Export debt - no more than 200%;
The ratio of the cost of servicing external debt to export is no more than 15-20%.
The economic implications of public debt can be summarized in the following four points:
the growth of public debt reduces the capital stock in the economy: money could be invested not in government bonds, but in real investment, therefore, this leads to the crowding out of private capital;
interest payments on government debt increase income inequality: those who own bonds will become even richer;
an increase in taxes to cover public debt acts as a disincentive to business activity: the desire to work decreases, output decreases;
when the government borrows to refinance debt or pay interest on it, it increases interest rate, which reduces the propensity to invest. In the future, the country may find itself with a reduced production potential.
The presence of public debt and its negative consequences make it necessary debt management.
Repayment of government loans and interest payments are made either from the budget or by refinancing - issuing new loans in order to pay off the bondholders of the old loan.
Management methods public debt include:
conversion- changes in the terms of the loan related to profitability, i.e. decrease or increase in the amount of interest paid on loans. In this case, foreign creditors are invited to purchase real estate, participate in joint capital investment, privatization of state property. Private national firms of the creditor country redeem the debtor country's obligations from their state or bank and, with mutual consent, use them to acquire property;
consolidation- changes in the terms of the loan associated with their terms (transformation of short-term liabilities into medium and long-term). It is possible only with the mutual consent of the borrowing government and the creditor government.
An extreme measure that the state can take when budget funds are no longer sufficient, it can declare its refusal to pay interest and repay its obligations to internal or external investors, i.e. to announce sovereign default... And this should be understood as the bankruptcy of the state 5.
So, large budget deficits and generated public debt, while not fatal to the economy, can give rise to a number of serious problems. Therefore, at present, the governments of most developed countries are formulating fiscal policy, which provides for both improving tax policy and reducing government spending, including through social allocations.
The budget is an important link financial system countries. Reflecting the content of the processes of production and distribution of the social product and national income, the budget is an economic form of formation and use of the main centralized fund of state funds.
The budget annually centralizes part of the monetary incomes of enterprises and the population. The accumulated funds are distributed and used to finance the costs of implementing the functions of the state. At the expense of budgetary funds, national needs are satisfied, certain areas of activity are financed - defense, management, protection of public order and state security, fundamental science, etc. In addition, collective needs are also met at the expense of the budget by financing the costs of education, health care, culture and art.
The state budget actively influences the economy as a whole, since it acts as the budget of the entire national economy. Big role plays the state budget in the sphere of material production, acting as a stimulator of its growth. Budget funds are used to ensure both individual (within the framework of individual enterprises) and public (on the scale of the entire national economy) circulation of funds. Budget financing capital investments and circulating assets at operating and newly commissioned enterprises, ensuring other expenses allows the budget to be included in the individual circulation of funds at individual enterprises, contributing to its continuity and uniformity See: L.A. Grigoriev. Financial system and economic development //World economy and international relations. - 2003. - No. 7. - P. 65 ..
Budgetary allocations in the production sphere are the main source of its functioning and further development. Most of the institutions and organizations in this area do not have their own sources of income and are financed from the budget.
Government spending on education and health care, social insurance and social security, science, culture and art are the financial base without which it is impossible to conduct social and cultural events of a nationwide scale. The budget is of great importance in the formation of a rational structure of the branches of the non-production sphere.
Providing financial resources for the functioning of the non-production sphere, the state through the budget can form the final size of the consumption fund, influence the territorial proportions in its use.
Fiscal policy is the core of the state's economic policy and reflects all of its financial relationships with public institutions and citizens. When planning budgetary policy the state must proceed from the need to ensure financial and social stability. The predictability of fiscal policy is a key factor in overall macroeconomic stability.
State budgetary policy regulates financial flows between sectors national economy, forms government funds monetary resources and provides solutions to socio-economic problems for the provision of collective and individual benefits in the form of goods and services at the expense of the resources of the budget system and state extrabudgetary funds... Its regulating and controlling instrument is the budget deficit (surplus). It is a complex financial economic category, which reflects and manifests the proportions of the budget system, the relationship between the revenue streams of the state and the needs for state funding, which ensures the effective implementation of all functions of the state (regulatory and managerial, defense, social, investment, foreign economic). It is also the result and criterion of the effectiveness of the interaction of the state with the production and social spheres, the banking system, financial market, external market See: V.A. Maltsev. Financial right: textbook: for students of educational institutions of secondary vocational education / V.A. Maltsev. - 2nd ed., Rev. and add., 2007. - S. 153 ..
The main requirements for budgetary policy are:
1. Realism.
2. Federal budget should personify the responsibility of the state for the unconditional fulfillment of the budgetary obligations assumed.
3. The federal budget should be an effective tool for the policy of financial recovery of the economy, to prevent the growth of inflationary expectations.
4. It is necessary to focus on increasing income, and not due to an increase in the tax burden, but due to a more decisive implementation of measures to legalize private entrepreneurial initiative.
5. The objectives of the budgetary policy should be as detailed as possible.
For a long time, the budget of Russia had a deficit character. In recent years, the budget is not only not deficit, but it is being formed and executed with a rather large surplus.
The state budget deficit is not an unambiguously negative phenomenon. Its nature and role should be assessed taking into account the reasons for the emergence, directions and purposes of using the mobilized additional financial resources, sources and methods of financing.
A tax cut with constant government spending, from the perspective of the future-oriented consumer, means that the government finances the reduction by increasing government debt. In turn, the growth of public debt implies that in the future it will be necessary to increase taxes to cover it. Thus, taxes do not actually change, but are simply redistributed over time.
Taxpayers' expectations of future tax increases and lower incomes will lead to the fact that today's consumption will not increase, only consumer savings will increase as a defense measure to maintain a "familiar" standard of living in the future. The increase in private savings will allow the implementation of public securities, intended to cover the budget deficit without increasing the rate of interest.
The main parameters of budgetary policy at the present stage are as follows: to keep the economy from falling production and to ensure financial stabilization. To do this, it is necessary first of all to take urgent measures to strengthen money circulation, national currency as the basis for overcoming economic crisis... Only in the conditions of a stably functioning monetary circulation, it is possible to realize connections between all participants and constituent parts economic mechanism.
To strengthen monetary circulation and the country's financial position, it is necessary to improve budget mechanism, provide government regulation money supply, de-dollarization, priority financing of the development of the real sector of the economy, improvement of activities banking system; stimulate investment activity, seek to increase the share of accumulation in national income; to strengthen the revenue base of the budget by improving taxation and strengthening control over the completeness of tax payments; establish a system of effective financial control for the efficient and purposeful use of public spending; strengthen control over the size of public debt. The main objectives of budgetary policy in Russia are: ensuring full funding social sphere, stimulating investment activity, unconditional fulfillment by the state of its financial obligations.
The totality of income and expenses of the state in a strictly defined time period, drawn up in the form of a financial document with the obligatory indication of sources and estimated amounts cash receipts, directions and volumes of their spending.
For the formation of the state budget, reflecting the needs of the country, subject to financing for their satisfaction from the state treasury, the government bodies participating in its preparation, examine and approve the expenditure and revenue parts, each of which is mandatory structural form the state budget. The state budget consists of the following levels:
- federal;
- regional;
- municipal;
- local;
- budgets of state extra-budgetary funds.
The structure of the expenditure side of the budget
Government expenditures included in the country's budget are formed from the totality of all the needs of the state in a certain time period. Funds from the state treasury are directed to satisfy such national goals and interests as:
- Military. Ensuring the security and defense of the state.
- Economic. Formation of state property, repayment of external debt, support of entrepreneurship, replenishment of the state reserve, participation in investment projects, other expenses of an economic nature.
- Foreign policy. Expenses for the implementation of international activities, participation in international associations, organizations, assemblies, ensuring international agreements, etc.
- Social. Provision of insurance, pension, targeted and other payments, budgetary allocations for the maintenance of medical, educational, cultural and other social facilities. Expenses for the formation and functioning of the social policy of the state.
- Expenses for public administration... Provide for the provision of activities of the President of the country, government authorities and other needs of state administration.
Thus, the state budget has three expenditure structures, including departmental, economic and functional. Main financial document countries also include closed items of expenditure, usually used by the Department of Defense, but often allocated to the socio-economic sphere.
Budget revenue structure
State revenues represent funds received in an irrevocable and gratuitous manner in accordance with the legislation of the state. The income part is formed from:
- Tax payments, including taxes and fees on property, on foreign trade, on profits and other areas of activity, duties and deductions.
- Non-tax revenue based on business income, fines, administrative fees, sanctions and other non-tax payments.
- Capital gains. Trading operations with land, government stocks, fixed capital.
Government revenues that exceed expenditures form a budget surplus, in fact, a surplus of funds. In the case when the expenditure part turns out to be more profitable, a deficit is formed.
Principles of constructing the state budget
In the absolute majority of democratic countries, the preparation of the state budget is entrusted to the government, its adoption and approval is entrusted to the highest legislative bodies.
Purposeful socio-economic development of the state is ensured by the formation of various centralized funds, and, above all, a national fund of funds - state budget... State the budget is the leading link in the country's financial system.
The general concept of the state budget is given in Art. 6 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation ... "The budget is a form of formation and spending of the fund of funds intended for the financial provision of the tasks and functions of the state and local self-government"... However, in The Budget Code given too general concept, characterizing only one side of it - as "Form of education and spending of funds ..."
In the material sense state the budget is centralized on the scale of the state. or an administrative-territorial entity a monetary fund that is at the disposal of the relevant state authorities. authorities and local government. Although the material content of the budget is not constant, the amount of money concentrated in it is constantly changing, the types of receipts into it, the directions of expenditures change.
but the essence of the state. budget constant. It manifests itself in social relations associated with the concentration of funds in the budget and their use, i.e. in characterizing the essence of the budget as an economic category.
As an economic category, the budget is a set of economic (monetary) relations arising in the process of formation, planned distribution and use of the state centralized fund of funds. Budgetary relations arise between the state and its subjects (legal entities and individuals) in the formation of a centralized fund with the help of taxes, fees, duties, as well as when using a centralized budget fund; through economic relations annually mobilize in the state. the budget is a significant part of the savings of enterprises, organizations and part of the income of the population. Budget funds are used to finance the tasks and functions of the state, social and cultural events.
The concept of state. the budget also has a legal (legislative) aspect. From the standpoint of the legislative (legal) establishment of state. budget, it is considered as the financial plan of the state.
In terms of legal act state the budget is defined as follows.
The state budget- this is the main financial plan for the formation, distribution and use of the centralized monetary fund of the state, approved by the relevant legislative (representative) body of the state. authorities. Such a financial plan for the formation, distribution and use of a centralized fund of funds (state budget) secures the legal rights and obligations of participants in budgetary relations.
The main purpose of the state. budget- with the help of financial resources, create conditions for the effective development of the economy, the solution of national tasks, and the strengthening of defense capability.
The formation and use of the state budget in the Russian Federation has a number of distinctive features:
1. Drawing up and using the budget has a pronounced balance character. Balance budget method allows you to outline the necessary relationship between the amount of cash income and the amount of expenses. An analysis of the emerging budget balance (in terms of revenues and expenditures) makes it possible to conclude that it is necessary to change certain proportions in the plan, to find additional resources or to reduce certain expenditures.
2. Formation and use of state. the budget is based on a combination of centralized principles with the initiative of local authorities.
3. With the help of the state. budget, there is a redistribution of national income between sectors of the national economy, constituent entities of the Russian Federation and other spheres.
4. Distinctive feature state budget is its national economic nature. The country's budget is associated with all sectors of the national economy. Branches are connected with the budget both in terms of budgeting by revenues and in terms of financing them. The fulfillment of these functions by the budget is combined with its active influence on the production process and on the growth of savings.
State the budget as an economic category expresses the system of economic relations between the state, on the one hand, enterprises, organizations and the population, on the other hand, regarding the distribution and redistribution of the aggregate social product and national income and the formation of a centralized national fund of funds.
Formation of state. budget occurs both at the stage of the primary distribution of national income, and in the course of its redistribution. In the process of the primary distribution of national income, the state receives at its disposal a part net income in the form of taxes (value added tax, excise taxes, etc.). As a result of the redistribution, part of the profit of enterprises goes to the budget and business organizations various forms of ownership.
The constituent elements of the state. budget:
1. State income is part of the state. income, which, in the process of distribution, becomes the property of the state.
2. State. expenses - economic relations with the help of which the funds of the centralized monetary fund are used.
3. The ratio of income and expenses.
It can have three characteristics:
Expenditures exceed revenues = budget deficit
Incomes exceed expenses = budget surplus
Balanced budget = balance between spending and income.