The budget system in any state has a dominant position. This is explained by the significance of the functions that it performs in the field of ensuring the economic stability of society. Obviously, therefore, in the scientific literature the interpretation of this category is carried out from various positions.
The most commonly used definition states that the budget is a centralized fund in which money is accumulated and which is formed at one level or another and in accordance with the tasks facing the state and society. That is why the budget is considered as a function of the state, carried out at all levels of government.
From narrower, namely, economic positions, the essence of this category consists of revenues and expenditures of the state budget, which form an integral system of relations in society regarding the redistribution of some part of the state’s total monetary fund in accordance with its specific tasks. In a more simplified version, revenues and expenditures of the state budget are understood as a kind of financial system, financial project or plan that is developed and exists for specific temporary tasks.
In any country, the budget, as a rule, is formed of two dialectically inextricable and interdependent parts - revenue and expenditure. For example, federal budget revenues in the Russian Federation represent an unstable part of the budget, which indirectly reflects the achievements of society. The expenditure side is also not stable; it shows how much the state’s total monetary fund can be used to solve various development problems. At the same time, when planning both revenue and expenditure parts, factors of external influence on the budget processes of the country are also taken into account.
The structural design of the budget system is directly mediated by the type of state-territorial structure of a particular state. The federal model is characterized by a two- or even three-level model, in which budgets are allocated for each of the levels of subjects included in the federal state. For example, a three-tier system has been created and is functioning in Russia, within the framework of which it stands out: federal, federal subjects and municipal entities.
The functioning of all budgets in the country is determined by the Budget Code. The budget system operates on the basis of certain principles that are universal for budgets of all levels. One of these is the principle of demarcation. In accordance with it, the revenues and expenses of local budgets and other levels are formed from strictly defined by law sources. In addition, the authority to form and manage budgets is also assigned to the appropriate authority level.
Federal taxes are determined by the legislation of the Russian Federation, in addition, budget regulation tools form acceptable proportions between the corresponding levels of budgets in their revenue and expenditure. In the Russian Federation, the federal project approves revenues and expenditures of the state budget for three years, at the lowest levels - for one year.
The main incomes of the federal level include revenues from state property, its sale or privatization, revenues from the sale of state reserves and intangible assets, and many others.
Expenditures of budgets of all levels are classified into capital and current.
Capital include:
- investment costs;
- funds of budget loans ;
- costs of expanded reproduction;
- expenses that create conditions for the increase in property owned by the Russian Federation and its entities;
- other expenses provided for by the classification of the budgets of the Russian Federation.
In addition, given the functions of the state, the costs of maintaining the state apparatus, defense, medicine, social insurance and other items are allocated.
Thus, revenues and expenditures of the state budget are not only an economic category, but also a legal one, because they are an effective instrument of state regulation of social development.