Goverment Budget and the Economy
Basic Concepts:
Government Budget :
“A government budget is an annual financial statement showing item-wise estimates of expected revenue and anticipated expenditure during a fiscal year.”
Budget Receipts:-
Budget receipts refer to estimated receipts of the government from various sources during a fiscal year.
Revenue Receipts:-
Government receipts which neither (i) create liabilities nor (ii) reduce assets are called revenue receipts.
Capital Receipts:-
Government receipts which either (i) create liabilities or (ii) reduce assets are called capital receipts.
Tax Revenue:-
Tax Revenue consists of proceeds of taxes and other duties levied by the Union government.
Tax:-
A tax is legally a compulsory payment imposed by the government on income and profit of persons and companies without reference to any benefit.
Non Tax Revenue:-
Income from sources other than taxes is called non-tax revenue. It arises on account of administrative function of the govt.
Direct tax: When (i) liability to pay a tax and (ii) the burden of that tax falls on the same person, the tax is called a direct tax. e.g.: Income tax, Wealth tax, gift tax, expenditure tax, interest tax etc.
Indirect Tax : When (i) liability to pay a tax is on one person and (ii) the burden of that tax falls on same other person, the tax is called an indirect tax. e.g.: sale tax, excise duty, customs duty, entertainment tax, service tax, octroi etc.
Budget Expenditure:
Bdget or Govt. Expenditure refers to the estimated expenditure to be incurred by the government under different heads in a year.
Revenue Expenditure: An expenditure which neither creates assets nor reduces liability is called Revenue Expenditure.
Capital Expenditure: An expenditure which either creates an asset (e.g.school building) or reduces liability (e.g. repayment of loan) is called capital expenditure.
Balanced Budget: A government budget is said to be a balanced budget in which government estimated receipts (revenue and capital) are equal to government estimated expenditure.
Surplus Budget: When government receipts are more than government expenditure in the budget, the budget is called a surplus budget.
Deficit Budget : When government expenditure exceeds government receipts in the budget, the budget is said to be a deficit budget.
Revenue Deficit:
Revenue deficit refers to the excess of total revenue expenditure of the government over its total revenue receipts.
Revenue deficit = Total Revenue expenditure - Total Revenue receipts.
Fiscal Deficit: Fiscal deficit is defined as excess of total expenditure over total receipts excluding borrowing during a fiscal year.
Fiscal deficit = Total budget expenditure - Total budget receipts excluding borrowings
Primary Deficit : Primary deficit is defined as fiscal deficit minus interest payments on previous borrowings.
Primary deficit = Fiscal deficit - Interest payments
Summary :
Objectives of a Government Budget.
(i) Economic growth : To promote rapid and balanced economic growth so as to improve living standard of the people.
(ii) Reduction of poverty and unemployment : To eradicate mass poverty and unemployment by creating employment opportunities and providing maximum social benefits to the poor.
(iii) Reduction of inequalities : To reduce inequalities of income and wealth through living taxes and granting subsidies.
(iv) Reallocation of resources : To reallocate resources so as to achieve social and economic objectives.
(v) Price stability : To maintain price stability and correct business cycles.
(vi) Management of public enterprises.
Structure of Govt. Budget
Budget Receipts Budget Expenditure
Budget (Govt.) Receipts
Revenue Receipts Capital Receipts (components)
Tax Revenue Nontax Revenue
(components) (components)
(i) Income tax (i) Interest receipts (i) Borrowings
(ii) Corporate tax (ii) Profits and Dividends (ii) Recovery of loans
(iii) Customs duty (iii) Fees and fines (iii) Disinvestment
(iv) Exice duty (iv) Special assessment (iv) Small savings and provident funds
(v) Expenditure tax (v) External grants-in-aid
(vi) Wealth tax
(vii) Interest tax
(viii) Estate duty
Budget (Govt.) Expenditure
Plan Expenditure Non-Plan Expenditure
Plan Expenditure
Revenue Expenditure Capital Expenditure
(components) (components)
(i) Central plans (i) Central plans capital projects
(ii) Assistance to finance (ii) Loans to state and union terriories
state and UT plans for their capital projects.
Non-Plan Expenditure
Revenue Exp. Capital Exp.
(components) (components)
(i) Interest payment (i) Defence capital
(on loans taken by Govt.)
(ii) Payments of salaries (ii) Other than defence capital
(iii) Defence service exp. (iii) Loans to states and UT
(iv) Subsidies (iv) Loans to public
(v) Grants to States (v) Loans to Foreign government
and UT
(vi) Economic services
(vii) Education and health services
(viii) Family welfare
(ix) Flood control
(x) Rural development
Types of Budget Deficit
The budget deficit is the difference between total expenditure on the one hand and current revenue and net internal and external capital receipts of the govt. on the other.
Measures of Govt. Deficit
Revenue Fiscal Deficit Primary
Deficit (Govt. borrowing) Deficit
Revenue Deficit = Total revenue exp. - Total revenue receipts.
Remedial measures for reducing revenue deficit are : (i) Govt. should raise rate of taxes especially on rich people and any new taxes where possible.
(ii) Government should try to reduce its expenditure and avoid unnecessary expenditure.
Implications : It gives information on what the govt. is borrowing for i.e. for financing its current expenditure or for capital formation.
Fiscal Deficit : Total expenditure - Total receipts excluding borrowings.
Importance : Fiscal deficit shows the borrowings requirements of the govt. during the budget year.
Implications : (i) Death trap : Fiscal deficit i.e. borrowings creats problem of not only (a) payment of interest but also of (b) repayment of loans.
(ii) Wasteful expenditure
(iii) Inflationary pressure
(iv) Partial use
How is fiscal deficit met ?
(i) Borrowing from domestic sources.
(ii) Borrowing from external sources.
(iii) Deficit financing (printing of extra currency notes):
Primary Deficit = Fiscal deficit - Interest payment
Importance : Fiscal deficit reflects the borrowing requirements of the govt. for financing the exp. inclusive of interest payments.
As against it, primary deficit shows the borrowing requirements of the govt. for meeting exp. exclusive of interest payment.
No comments:
Post a Comment