Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Economics

Chapter

Macro Economics: Government Budget and Economy

Question:

The Union Budget of India referred to as the annual Financial Statement in Article 112 of the Constitution of India, is the annual budget of the Republic of India, presented each year on the last working day of February by the Finance Minister of India in Parliament. The budget has to be passed by the House before it can come into effect on April 1, the start of India's financial year. References to the budget can be found in Kautilya’s Arthashastra. It states that the Chancellor should first estimate revenue from each place and sphere of activity under different heads of accounts and then arrive at a grand total. The actual revenue is to be estimated by adding receipts into the treasury for the current year and delayed payments received which were due in earlier year/s. From this deduct the expenditure on the king, standard rations, other exemptions granted by the King, and authorized postponement of payments into the treasury. The outstanding revenues were estimated from work under construction for which revenue will accrue on completion, unpaid fines, unrecoverable dues, uncollectible sums, advances to be repaid by officers, etc. The origins of the modern Budget can be traced to the Norman period, where two departments dealt with finance—the Treasury and the Exchequer. The Treasury received and paid out money on behalf of the monarch. The Exchequer had a 'lower office' that received money, and an 'upper office', concerned with regulating the Kings’ accounts. The term ‘budget’ has been derived from the old French word ‘baguette’, which means a leather bag or wallet. The first use of the term 'budget' may date back to the 1733 financial statement by Walpole as Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. A cartoon of him opening a patent medicine seller's wares was published at the time, as a satirical comment with the caption 'The Budget Opened'. ('Budge' is an old word for a bag or small case). Initially, “budget” referred solely to the Chancellor’s annual speech on the nation’s finances. Now, the term is used for an annual financial statement of income and expenditure of a government.

Which of the following is NOT a "Capital expenditure"?

Options:

The government of India paid back the loan to the British government

Receipt of taxes paid by citizens

Loan advances by Government of India to the Government of SriLanka

Construction of railway platform

Correct Answer:

Receipt of taxes paid by citizens

Explanation:

There are expenditures of the government which result in creation of physical or financial assets or reduction in financial liabilities. This includes expenditure on the acquisition of land, building, machinery, equipment, investment in shares, and loans and advances by the central government to state and union territory governments. Repayment of loan is also a Capital Expenditure as it causes reduction in liabilities of the government.

Capital receipts refer to those receipts that either result in the creation of liability or in the reduction of assets. Thus, tax receipts are part of revenue receipts, which do not lead to a claim on the government and do not affect the assets and liabilities status of the government.