Borisov confuses the budget with Santa’s sack – 2024-08-07 20:51:55

/ world today news/ The ministers stubbornly and brazenly forget that the money they give out whenever and however they want belongs to the taxpayers

Imagine a family that at the beginning of the year makes plans to replace old windows, repair a leaky roof and send the children to foreign language and programming courses. But then he starts spending the money on restaurants and taxis, the wife buys a mink coat, the children are stuffed with luxury chocolates, the husband, instead of sending the old Golf for recycling, gives it to repair the sheet metal, because the tinsmith is his friend and he has no job . At Christmas, everyone gives each other new models of smartphones. And the roof continues to leak.

Something similar happens with the state budget – ministers plan one thing, do another. For example, billions are planned for highways, water supply network, sewage treatment plants, landfills. The funds then go to raising wages, to subsidies, to all kinds of repairs and to filling holes – literally and figuratively.

However, the family spends its own money, and the government spends foreign, taxpayers’ money. It is no coincidence that the state’s annual financial plan is examined in parliament and becomes law. But in Bulgaria the laws are a door in the field. A

the disregard of the ministers for the budget law is a tradition.

And the office “Borisov 3” is no exception. Last year, the EC made dozens, if not hundreds, of spending reordering decisions.

Flying millions to repair military fighter jets is a wonderful illustration of the way the government manages taxpayers’ money. BGN 31 million for 2017 and another BGN 26 million for the next two years have been allocated in the budget macro-framework for the repair of the old MiG-29. The money is for “airworthiness assurance”. Already at the end of 2016, the government started giving out money for the non-flying planes – in the first days of November, the ministers voted 15.395 million BGN, at the end of the same month they approved 54.6 million BGN. What happens to these funds is not clear. But in January 2017, the cabinet allocated BGN 9.63 million – again for airworthiness of the aircraft. In December – another 19.97 million BGN. The public order itself for the contractor for the repairs of the moments, strangely why it was left for the very end of the year – it will be launched on December 7. A complaint blocks the procedure and it turns out that there is no time to conclude a contract with the selected company to which the money will be transferred until the New Year. In the run-up to Christmas, the government hastily implements these and many other planned but unrealized expenditures.

20 million, for example, go to support the hardware of the communication, navigation and information systems of military airfields. Systems are obviously important, but wasn’t the 2017 budget originally earmarked for computer maintenance at military airfields? Another 28 million BGN are being released as Christmas gifts for military schools – for the “Rakovski” Academy, for the “Vasil Levski” Military University and for the “N. Vaptsarov” Naval School. Another 3 million BGN goes for an unknown type of construction and repair work and for the reconstruction of the building of the “Military Information” office. No one explained to the taxpayers exactly what was going to be repaired at the military schools and why it was so expensive. However, it is certain that the future contractors of the repairs are already contentedly rubbing their hands together.

Almost to the edge for 2017

The Treasury was producing fake news

on the subject of the budget. They assured us that the surpluses, accumulated for many months, would melt away completely at Christmas, because then there would be big payments under the Euro programs. There were indeed large payments, but in other areas. The biggest expense was for the notorious “free” renovation, which received its second billion. There were Christmas presents for farmers, soldiers, officials, teachers, for small and large municipalities, etc.

The redrawing of the budget with the decisions of the Council of Ministers leads to a bad distortion of the structure of expenses – for example, in 2016, the expenses for investments and maintenance were BGN 3.3 billion lower than planned, and the expenses for wages, social expenses, subsidies, etc. . are BGN 1.2 billion higher. Exact data on the implementation of the 2017 budget are not yet available, but the Ministry of Finance has already announced some preliminary numbers. It is clear from them that there are significant discrepancies between forecasts and reality. The authors of the budget had planned a deficit of BGN 1.33 billion, but in fact the year ended with a surplus of almost BGN 800 million. It turns out that the difference between plan and implementation is “only” BGN 2.1 billion. Surplus itself is great news. If we listen to the government, all the credit goes to it – it works hard, chases down smugglers and tax evaders, and is also very thrifty. But the truth is different.

The expenses planned in the 2017 budget were BGN 36.77 billion. Even with the crazy spending between Nicholas Day and Christmas, the government barely managed to bring the expenses up to BGN 34.44 billion, including the decision at the last moment to allocate BGN 1 billion to the “free” rehabilitation. In other words, over BGN 3 billion of the 2017 state expenditures approved by the budget law did not take place. And

this “frugality” is not useful abstinence

from unimportant and even meaningless ramblings. It is due to capital expenditures of the state that did not happen and is primarily the result of the failure of the officials and their political leaders to organize projects, procedures, public procurement, through which public money can be invested in useful undertakings.

Capital expenditure is a huge topic on which the governors and especially the authors of the budget deserve huge criticism. These costs are one of the biggest secrets in the state. Year after year we are served some nine-figure bills, without it being clear which are these mythical projects that will swallow billions. For 2017, for example, more than BGN 6 billion of investments were planned. But we don’t know exactly what these funds were allocated for. It is logical that the budget should have a list of the objects to which the so-called capital expenditure. It may be logical, but there is no list and so far no force has emerged to force the rulers to disclose the state’s capital investments.

This secrecy is no accident. It makes it easier for the government to shift spending arbitrarily, without control, without giving explanations to citizens why a key investment for society failed and why the money was spent on completely different purposes.

In normal countries, budget predictability is raised in a cult. In our country

the budget is a real lottery

– you never know which expense will fail, who will get an extra portion, who will get a Christmas present, who will hit the jackpot. The drafters of the budget had predicted that in 2017 Bulgaria’s economy would grow by 2.9%, and an increase of almost 4% is looming. Therefore, the revenues from taxation of economic activity are significantly more than planned. With unemployment melting and incomes rising in many sectors, it is quite logical that income from taxes, social security and health contributions should also grow. Raw materials, food, energy sources have become more expensive compared to 2016, so this is also a reason for more taxes in the treasury. Raising the pension contribution, the minimum wage, the insurance thresholds also fill the treasury with more taxes and insurances. Which makes it easier for the government to play the role of the generous Santa Claus.

And the 2018 budget starts on the beaten path. The government has once again overstated costs and understated revenues to ensure easy implementation and room for maneuver. And again, it projects a deficit without any grounds for this and contrary to the rule that in good times the budget must be in surplus or at least that expenditures should be equal to revenues.

From now on, we can bet that in the coming months, Boyko Borisov will constantly brag about how well the government is doing, how it hunts smugglers and tax cheats, how the treasury is overflowing with revenues. And at the end of the year, the Great Christmas spending will occur again – unplanned, reckless, random. And no wonder that in December the government suddenly pulled out a third billion for “free” (or semi-free) rehabilitation of old blocks and houses. Except that the billions do not come by sledge from Lapland, they are taken out of the pockets of Bulgarian taxpayers.