Origin and use of the additional scope in the federal budget from 2013 to 2018

Abstract

In recent years, the federal budget was dominated by two characteristics. The interests paid were lower than expected and the tax revenue increased more than assumed. Both developments enlarged the scope of action for the federal government in total by around 89 billion euros in the period from 2013 to 2018. While 60% of the volume can be allocated to lower interest expenses, 40% are due to higher tax revenue. The federal government used the financial opportunities especially for additional expenditures (60%), the rest flowed into a reserve. Continuously, the expenditures for defence and transport have risen compared to the budget. While less money than projected was spent for the social security system in 2013 and 2014 due to fiscal consolidation, more money than projected was spent from 2015 to 2017. When the fiscal policy was more expansive, i.e. from 2016 to 2018, significantly higher resources have also flowed into public security, development aid and domestic construction. In total, more money than planned was also spent on research and education, however, in 2017 and 2018 the planned figures could not be achieved. By contrast, only business development had to suffer from less financial resources in every single year of the considered time period.