नेपालमा बजेट पारदर्शीता र सुधारको कार्यसुची

सरकारी बजेट बार्षिक आम्दानी र खर्चको अनुमान मात्र नभई राज्यका समग्र नीति तथा प्राथमिकताको निर्धारक र मापक पनि हो । सरकारले वर्षेनी जारी गर्ने बजेट प्रस्तावले राज्यको वास्तविक प्राथमिकता र कार्यदिशा तोक्दछ । बजेट प्रस्तावमा नसमेटिएका नीतिहरुको राजनीतिक अर्थ रहेपनि जनजिवनमा तीनको खासै महत्व रहँदैन । अर्थात्, आम जनताका लागि राज्यको नीति भन्नु नै बजेट वा वित्तीय नीति हो ।         यस्तो महत्वपूर्ण नीति अर्थात् बजेटप्रतिको चासो र चेतनाको स्तरले कुनैपनि देशको लोकतात्रिक विकासको अवस्था झल्काउँछ । विकसीत लोकतन्त्रमा सरकार वा राजनीतिक दलप्रति जनताको धारणा निर्माणको आधार त्यहाँको वित्तीय नीति हुनेगर्छ । त्यसैले, बजेटप्रति जनताको चेतना र चासो बढाउने, समग्र बजेट प्रक्रियालाई पारदर्शी बनाउने र बजेट प्रक्रियामा कुनै न कुनै रुपमा सवै नागरिकलाई सहभागि हुने अवसरको सिर्जना गर्ने विषय लोकतन्त्रको संस्थागत विकासको महत्वपुर्ण पूर्वसर्त हो ।       

The right priorities

Even if domestic revenue is inadequate, the government needs to pay for recurrent expenses, including salaries to its employees, at any cost. Also, the peoples’ demands for development cannot be ignored even at the time of revenue crunch, which means that the government is always in need of cash. In such times, the government normally goes for the option of raising funds through domestic and international borrowing. In short term, such loans work as a source of deficit financing, but if the borrowed fund cannot be utilized properly, the country might enter a debt trap.

Making Income Tax Top Contributor to National Revenue

It has been 57 years since Nepal started planned development. However , no development plan has been fully successful. It is primarily because development plans are formulated having no or Ltd domestic funding source. Records show that our development efforts are highly dependent on foreign aid. Very few development projects are planned and executed with domestic funds. As domestic revenue has been hardly sufficient to finance recurrent expenditures, government has only two options- either to plan development activities searching probability of funding from abroad or not to undertake development activities at all. As no government can choose the second option, making domestic economy highly dependent on foreign economy is the only way. 

Veiled threat : Analyzing Tax Revenue

Government reports show that the contribution of tax on total government revenue is increasing. In 2010/11 contribution of tax revenue on total government expenditure came to 67.1 percent (IRD, 2012). Tax revenue had 89 percent share in total domestic revenue in 2011/12. As a percentage of GDP, tax revenue reached 15.7 percent in F/Y 2011/12, from 11.1 percent in 2006/7. Also, the country’s domestic revenue mobilization capacity has increased. The government plans to mobilize of Rs 289 billion in domestic revenues for 2012/13 (MoF, 2013), about 80 percent of total estimated government expenditure (not adjusted with recent change).