Budgets: Process, Rights, and Institutions

Abstract

From the Sinking Fund, to the Office for Budget Responsibility—this chapter considers UK budgeting in the twenty-first century. As Chapter 3 established that the process of budgeting is itself a British innovation, this review of the legislation and processes surrounding UK budgeting in the modern era may be of interest to fiscal sociological scholars outside of the UK. This chapter considers the ‘budget controlling’ legislation introduced in the wake of the financial crash of 2008, the introduction of the Office of Budget Responsibility, and the key targets of this office: transparency, and sustainability. The context of EU legislation also is considered. The chapter concludes with a comparative consideration of budgeting in the USA. How does executive control over budgeting work in a constitutional democracy, with a presidential executive branch? To what extent have the (largely American) concepts of “tax expenditures” and “fiscal federalism” proved influential in the UK?