Research On The Budget Legal Governance Of Local Government Debt

Debt income,as an important source of fiscal revenue for local governments,should be included in the scope of budget governance.Official and unofficial statistics show that there are a large number of “off-balance sheet debts” in the debt structure of local governments outside the budgetary governance,that is,the government’s contingent liabilities and hidden liabilities,which have become a threat to China’s fiscal security.It is necessary to use the conceptual category of “local government debt” to include all debt forms that the local government actually bears financial burdens into the scope of budget governance.Improving the budget governance system for local government debt and managing the risk of local government debt more effectively is a top priority.How to carry out the budget legal governance of local government debt,this article will start from the following four aspects:The first part discusses the governance logic of local government debt.The double budget system established by the “Budget Law”is mainly based on statutory regulations for fiscal revenue,but it is only legal in the sense of procedure and form.This cannot reveal the real transaction costs of local public debt,and also creates space for local governments to circumvent legal regulations.In fact,the local government’s right to raise debt has its own peculiarities compared with the right to collect.The right to raise debt is not only regulated due to the nature of public power,but also because the circulation of bonds involves market mechanisms,and the application of private law principles and rules must be considered.Therefore,as far as the regulation of government levy and borrowing behavior is concerned,the former is mainly statutory.Compared with statutory,budgetism has its unique connotation,especially the core of "budget democracy",which can complement statutory from two levels: procedure and substance.In order to better implement democratic participation and budget supervision,and effectively control local government debt,governance should be combined with legalism and budgetism.The second part examines the implementation effect of our country’s government debt management tools and the rationality of the debt management process.China has built a relatively complete local government debt management and control system centered on the “Budget Law,” covering the types of debt,procedures,expenditure purposes,and risk warnings,but the results of the control are far below expectations.First,it manifests itself as a tool failure.Based on the classified management of general debt and special debt,and the classification and control of on-balance sheet debt and off-balance sheet debt,debt balance and debt rate control are the two major limiting measures for local government debt governance.However,whether it is from the overall debt of local government debt,or the historical debt data of sample provinces selected in the eastern,central,and western parts of China,the on-balance sheet debt is out of control.Off-balance sheet debts disclosed by government officials or social organizations all carry a high degree of risk,which also proves the failure of these two major control tools.Secondly,in the management process,it is shown as a wrong order.Debt income,of course,belongs to the category of fiscal revenue,which also occupies a high proportion,but it is not included in the category of budget revenue.The estimated debt income or deficit rate was not arranged when the draft budget was prepared,but it was implemented only when debt was needed.Budget adjustment for budget management.Budget preparation is the first step in the budget management process,and it should be adjusted before the budget.There is a problem of "order misordering" here.The third part is devoted to the necessity and possibility of introducing deficit rate control to improve budget governance.The fiscal deficit was one of the main reasons for the formation of government debt.In turn,government debt will result in non-expenditure due to interest expenses,increasing the deficit.Therefore,the control of the deficit rate is a fundamental proposition that government debt governance cannot bypass.The “budget balance” principle has broad and narrow meanings.The broad “budget balance” does not rigidly require “static balance” in the final results,but requires that “budget balance” regarded as a principle in the process of debt governance.Standardize budget behavior,run through the entire process of budget system operation,and pursue “dynamic balance”.A properly managed fiscal deficit does not conflict with this.Since China has implemented a deficit policy for a long time,it should face up to the rationality of deficit rate control and recognize the importance of deficit rate management to promote budget balance.Therefore,to improve the provisions of Article 35 of the “budget Law”,debt income is taken into account in the preparation of the budget,and the control line of the deficit rate is set out.At the same time,it is necessary to support the implementation of the deficit ratio with a standardized debt issuance voting mechanism,a multi-year mid-term budget management and a sinking fund system to achieve the goal of deficit management.The fourth part proposes the establishment of an independent and complete specialized debt budget,which is an important measure to optimize the governance system of the local public debt budget.First,it demonstrates the need for the debt budget to be separated from the general public budget and the government fund budget: because the general public budget and public debt are not compatible with each other,the sources of special debt service in the government fund budget are unsustainable,and local governments There are logical problems with the operation of the debt budget.Secondly,the feasibility of transforming the government fund budget into a special debt budget was discussed.Because the current positioning and budget scope of the government fund budget have natural commonality with public debt,under the premise of gradually cleaning up and standardizing the government fund budget,It can be used for the time being as a transitional form of specialized debt budgets.Finally,it is proposed that the special debt budget should adhere to the people-led concept,and follow the four principles of comprehensiveness,standardization,openness and effectiveness in the Budget Law,and consider the special mechanism when debt budgets are arranged separately.