N6 – Module 7
point of view there are two receivers of revenue – they are the Commissioner of Inland Revenue (SARS) and the Commissioner of Customs and Excise. They draft their own separate revenue budgets which are then combined into the Budget of Revenue. The budget itself will itemize the various sources of revenue under the following headings: direct tax, indirect tax, repayment of loans and other sources. Falling within these categories will then be the taxes as we know them, for example: income tax, value added tax, mining lease and property rights, reclaim of loans, customs duty, surcharges, excise duty, fuel levy, etc.
The Expenditure Budget This forms the main part of the budget which is read and tabled in Parliament every year in March.
The Main Budget This is the executive authority’s main proposals for expenditure for a given year. As explained before, the main budget, or what is commonly known as The Annual Budget, consists of two separate budgets – the revenue budget and the expenditure budget. In the budget speech, the Minister of Finance reads and announces highlights, and although he may speak for more than two hours sometimes, it would be impossible to announce every detail of the expenditure proposals. The budget is tabled (read and debated) in Parliament and only when approved (some time after the debate, and usually only in June) does it become an act of Parliament, and law.
The provision for interim expenditure (section 29 of Public Finance Management Act) All expenditure needs legislative approval, but because of the timetable of Parliament itself, it is impossible for Parliament to give this approval before the start or precisely at the start of the financial year.
Because the constitution stipulates that the appropriation of funds may be made only by an act of Parliament, and Parliament approves the budget only after the start of the financial year, government departments have no authority to spend funds for a period of time. This could be a period of three or four months, as it is possible that Parliament may approve the main budget only sometime in June or July. Services must continue, however. In order to solve this problem, Parliament makes a provisional appropriation to continue with essential services.
This provision is stipulated in the Public Finance Management Act, and for this reason does not need to be tabled as a bill of Parliament (the finance act itself is already a bill in its own right). It is, in fact, simply approval to government departments to spend funds from the beginning of the financial year (1 April) to the end of July – a period of four months, or until the Main Appropriation Bill (the main budget) is approved. (This used to be known as the Interim Appropriation Bill which was tabled in Parliament and became an act, and also once known as the Part Appropriation Budget.)
There are stipulations and restrictions though – government departments may spend: • only up to a maximum of 45% of the previous year’s budget, from 1 April – 31 July; • not more than 10% of the total amount of the previous year for each month thereafter until the main budget has been approved;
• not more than 100% of the previous year’s budget.
This may continue for another 9 months – it is possible for Parliament to go through an entire financial year without approving the main budget – it is very unlikely this will happen, though. It is more likely that the main budget will be approved sometime in June, or just after the winter recess, in July. Of course funds that have already been spent are subtracted from the allocated funds in the main budget.
108
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140