The budget system in the Russian Federation in its current form began to take shape in the late nineties of the last century. A significant milestone was the adoption by the State Duma in 1998 of the first edition of the Budget Code, which enshrined the fundamental principles of the budget system of the Russian Federation.
The Budget Code of the Russian Federation
This document, approved by the main representative body of the country, essentially represents a set of basic rules that regulate the budget process throughout the country and guarantee the unity of approaches. In terms of its legal force, it is equivalent to such widely known legislative acts as, for example, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, etc. At the end of the 90s of the last century, domestic legislators made serious efforts to streamline the legal chaos, the result of which was the assignment of specific tasks and responsibilities to each level of power. And the Budget Code clearly delineated the levels of the budget system of the Russian Federation and defined the rules for financial support for the tasks performed by the authorities.
Basic concepts and formulations
Perhapsthe central concepts for understanding the foundations of all budgetary procedures are directly concepts related to the budgetary system of the Russian Federation. And the budget, in its essence, is a "box" of the authorities, into which they collect funds - incomes, and then spend them for the purposes established by laws. The budget system in the Russian Federation is a kind of union of all these "pods" that the federal, regional and local authorities have, i.e. federal, regional and local budgets.
Responsible for organizing budget procedures at the federal level is the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (the main developer of the Budget Code), at the regional level - the financial authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, at the municipal - the financial authorities of municipalities and urban districts. The time period during which the approved budget is valid is the financial year, i.e. the period from January 01 to December 31 of each calendar year. By the way, in the US, the fiscal (and budget) year is different from the calendar year - it starts on October 1 and ends on September 30.
Russian budget system
The structure of the budget system in the Russian Federation is as follows:
- at the federal level - directly the federal budget and the budgets of state funds (pension and federal he alth insurance fund, for example);
- at the regional level - the budgets of territories, republics, regions and the budgets of territorial funds (for example, the territorial he alth insurance fund);
- at the local level - district budgets (not districts!), budgets of settlements, urban districts and districts that exist withinurban districts.
By the way, the road funds, which are well known to many, are formed directly within the limits of the expenditures of the budgets of the budget system of the Russian Federation and are not independent.
In order to have an idea of the financial capabilities of a particular level of government, there is the concept of consolidation. As a rule, when considering individual indicators, the concepts “consolidated budget of a municipal district (or city district)”, “consolidated budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation” and “consolidated budget of the Russian Federation” are used, which logically follow from the general budget structure and budget system of the Russian Federation.
Budget Consolidation
Consolidation of both initial indicators and subsequent reporting on the execution of the budgets of the budget system of the Russian Federation occurs approximately as follows:
- At the local level, the approach is determined on the basis of the law "On the General Principles of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation", since local government structures work with local budgets. One of the smallest administrative-territorial formations are rural and urban settlements, each of which, by law, is endowed with certain powers and has an independent "box" - a budget for their implementation. Settlements are geographically located within a larger administrative-territorial unit - a municipal district. But the district administration has its own duties, and for their fulfillment it uses the money of the district budget. The sum of the budgets of all settlements within the district and the district budget is calledconsolidated district budget. Urban districts are large enough cities that may have intra-urban areas. By law, the city district exercises powers that combine the powers of both the district and the settlement. Accordingly, the city district has the budget of the city district.
- At the level of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, legislators have endowed regional government bodies with a number of state powers. The heads of territories, republics and regions take money for their implementation from regional budgets. And the consolidated budget of the region includes both the money of the regional budget and the money of all the consolidated budgets of municipal districts and urban districts territorially located within the subject of the Russian Federation.
- Well, the consolidated budget of the country as a whole includes all the funds of the budget system of the Russian Federation - and regional consolidated budgets, and the federal budget, and state funds.
Principles of the RF budget system
The Russian budget system itself is built in compliance with a number of basic principles:
- Unity. All levels of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation operate in a single legal field. There are uniform classifications and uniform reporting forms.
- Separation of revenues, expenditures and permitted sources of deficit coverage between the levels of the budget system of the Russian Federation (each level has its own revenue sources and spending areas).
- Independence. The budget process is carried out at each level independently. full responsibility for hisimplementation is carried out by state authorities and local governments of the appropriate level.
- Equality of rights. All budgets have the same rights. The higher budget does not have the right to independently decide on the withdrawal of money from the lower budget.
- Complete reflection of all income received, expenses incurred and sources of deficit coverage (laws (decisions) on the budget should fully reflect both all budget revenues of the budget system of the Russian Federation, as well as spending areas, and sources of deficit coverage).
- Balanced (expenditure must not exceed total income and realistic sources of deficit coverage).
- Efficiency (funds should be spent based on the objectives of achieving the maximum economic or social effect from each budget ruble).
- Reliability (realistic planning).
- Unity cash desk (the presence of a single account in the RCC for budget execution).
- Targeted and targeted.
- Jurisdiction (recipients of budgetary funds can receive funds only from a higher manager).
- Openness (publicity of all documents).
- Total coverage of all expenses with all income.
These principles are obligatory for all budget levels of the budget system of the Russian Federation.
Fiscal revenues
Each level of the budget system of the Russian Federation has its own revenues, which are subject to transfer to a particular budget. Splitting the taxes paid and crediting them to the relevant budgets in accordance with the norms of the current legislationhandled by the Federal Treasury. To build their work, they use both the provisions of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation and the laws (decisions) on budgets, which fix the standards for crediting and distributing income sources.
From the point of view of federal legislation, the revenues of the budget system of the Russian Federation are divided as follows:
- in essence, payment for their services), income from various ways of using federal property (rent, sale, etc.), customs fees, payment for the use of forests, water bodies (essentially income from the exploitation of national we alth), income from foreign economic activity etc. That is, basically, these are incomes, the receipt of which is ensured by the actions of the federal authorities.
- Regional budgets receive taxes on property of organizations, transport tax (from both organizations and citizens), taxes from the gambling business, partly income tax from organizations, a large share of income tax, part of excises on alcohol and gasoline, simplified taxes, various kinds of state duties related to the activities of regional government bodies, income from the use of regional property, etc.
- Local budgets receive taxes on land, property of individuals, partiallyincome tax, imputation, state duty for the actions of local governments, income from municipal property, etc.
Budget spending
Federal legislation assigned to each level of government the terms of reference that this level of government is obliged to fulfill. Accordingly, in order to fulfill its powers, the authorities assume the corresponding expenditure obligations. Funds from the budgets of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation are directed primarily to ensure these expenditure obligations. The allocation of funds to each government body that is a participant in the budget process is carried out in the form of budget appropriations. In essence, this is not the so-called "real money", but the right to a part of the "budget pie". The industry then divides its share between subordinate institutions and other recipients of funds (for example, agricultural enterprises in the form of subsidies). Money is transferred to subordinate institutions in the form of limits on budget obligations, within which institutions have the right to conclude various kinds of contracts to ensure their activities.
It is worth noting separately such a phenomenon as public regulatory obligations - these are the expenses of the budget system of the Russian Federation, which are almost completely spent on various kinds of social payments (pensions, subsidies, compensation to beneficiaries, etc.). Since the circle of potential recipients is not limited here, it is quite likely that a situation may arise when, in reality, more funds will be required than planned. Thenbudget adjustment.
Budget relationships
Due to the fact that the rules for the distribution of taxes between all budgets of the state budget system of the Russian Federation are quite rigidly fixed by the current legislation, it may develop (and most often develops) that at some level of government, funds collected in the form the sources established by the Budget Code are clearly not enough to fulfill their powers. That is, there is a budget deficit. Moreover, it should be noted that funds may not be enough not because the territory is poorly developed economically, but because the taxes that are subject, for example, to the budget of an urban settlement, are insufficient. Small and medium-sized businesses can work perfectly and profitably in the city, but their payments will go to higher budgets. And the land tax that remains in place turns out to be very small in its absolute value, since the cadastral valuation of land, on the basis of which it is calculated, is also very small.
Therefore, in order to ensure equal constitutional rights of citizens throughout Russia, regardless of the economic potential of the territory where they live, a mechanism for equalizing budgetary security begins to work. That is, the higher budget (most often) by calculation method determines the average costs for the provision of a standard set of budget services (not to be confused with state services, since the provision of street lighting, road maintenance, and all similar guarantees from the state!) and allocates to those lower budgetswhere funds for this minimum standard are not enough, subsidies for equalization of provision.
As a rule, the federal budget equalizes the regional ones, and the regional ones equalize the local ones.
Sometimes the opposite situation can arise, which results in the concept of a “negative transfer”. It arises from the budgets of donor territories. Then the most highly secured lower budget is obliged to transfer a certain estimated amount to the higher budget. This money will go to the fund for financial support of budgets, from which subsidies are allocated, which are used to equalize the budgetary security of other territories. The size of the negative transfer will be determined at the stage of drafting budgets. If it is transferred by the budget in full, then all other additional revenues received during the budget year are not subject to withdrawal.
Subsidies and subventions
Sometimes assistance to a lower level of government can be provided in a completely different format - in the form of cash tranches called subsidies. They have a set of characteristic features:
- are exclusively targeted (as opposed to subsidies, which can be used to ensure any obligations assumed by recipients of funds from budgets of all levels);
- provided under conditions set by the level of power that allocates them from their financial resources;
- given to fulfill the powers assigned to the authorities - which are the recipients of money;
- almost always imply co-financing conditions, that is, the higher budget allocates funds in some (usually larger) percentage of the total need, and the lower one contributes, covering the balance with its own money.
The federation usually allocates money in the form of subsidies for the implementation of nationwide projects. A classic example is the Program that provides for the resettlement of people from dilapidated and dilapidated housing. The powers to provide housing for citizens are the tasks of municipalities. The Federation, on its own terms, allocates a subsidy for these purposes to the regions, and they provide their share of co-financing and carry out all the necessary activities.
Besides subsidies, there is another rather interesting type of tranches from higher to lower budgets, which is called subventions. They are designed to financially ensure the execution of delegated powers. The reason for the appearance of this kind of cash flows is quite simple: the legislative distribution of powers, that is, duties to ensure the constitutional rights of the inhabitants of Russia, does not work effectively enough in all cases. A classic example is the functioning of general education schools. Expenses for the general educational process (wages, professional retraining, acquisition of educational visual aids, educational literature) legislators assigned to the regional authorities, and the maintenance of school buildings, the payment of salaries to technical staff - to the tasks of municipalities. Since schools work directly onland”, then it is local government bodies that are closer and more accessible for solving problems in the full sense of the word. Therefore, in most regions, at the level of regional representative power, relevant laws have been adopted, and local self-government bodies of municipalities have been vested with the authority to implement the general educational process. Accordingly, they already act as the founders of schools, build or adapt suitable buildings, hire teaching teams that will teach schoolchildren. But the money to pay, for example, teachers' salaries will come from the regional budget in the form of a subvention, and the municipality will pay for heat and consumed electricity from its own wallet.
Subventions also have a set of characteristic features:
- They, like subsidies, are purely targeted, and the money that came to the salaries of teachers cannot be spent on the salaries of library workers.
- The amount of the subvention should fully cover the costs of the implementation of the delegated powers. Its recipient may, but is not at all obliged, to raise funds from his wallet to finance the powers that the higher level of government has legally transferred to him. In the same way, the recipient, if he does not have enough subvention funds, can only exercise the delegated powers to the extent that this money was enough for. Returning to the example of schools given above, this picture can be presented something like this: in the territory of the municipality, based on the number of schoolchildren available, it is necessaryduring the year to carry out the general education process in ten schools, while funds from the regional budget were transferred only to five schools. Accordingly, the municipality can either open only five schools, or maintain all ten, but for six months, or reduce the amount of salaries paid by half. In any case, the responsibility will lie with the region.
Conclusion
The Russian budget system is quite stable today, but at the same time it would be incorrect to call it static. Sustainability ensures uniformity of norms and laws. The basic rules of the game on the “budgetary field” have been written down for a long time and practically do not undergo cardinal changes. All encroachments on the part of the next reform relate to the improvement of some norms that are not fundamental. Most often, the points concerning the classification of budget revenues and expenditures are probably changing. Almost every year in December, the Ministry of Finance to some extent updates instructions on the use of established encodings. The same story with reporting forms - either additional forms are born, then long-existing ones are canceled, then they are returned again. But all these nuances do not fundamentally affect the stability of the working budget system. Therefore, it is worth hoping that this order will continue in the future.
