Government budget

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A government budget is a legal document that is often passed by the legislature, and approved by the chief executive. For example, only certain types of revenue may be imposed and collected. Property tax is frequently the basis for local revenues, while sales tax may be the basis for state revenues, and income tax and corporate tax are the basis for national revenues.

The two basic elements of a budget are the revenues and expenses. Budgets have an economic, political and technical basis. Unlike a pure economic budget, they are not entirely designed to allocate scarce resources for the best economic use. They also have a political basis wherein different interests push and pull in an attempt to obtain benefits and avoid burdens. The technical element is the forecast of the likely levels of revenues and expenses.