Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
whichdebtservicecanbecontinuedbyfiscalauthoritieswithno
needtomakeunrealisticallyhighadjustmentsoffuturebudget
balances4.Accordingtoasimilardefinition,fiscalstabilitymeans
thecapacityofthegovernmenttomaintainpublicfinanceatare-
liableandwell-workinglevelinthelongrun.Thegovernmentis
naturallyrequiredtoworkonthestrengtheningoffutureincome
andthemeetingofitsliabilities,takingintoaccountenvironmen-
talfactorsandsocio-economictrends5.Similartothisistheview
explainingfiscalstabilityasthegovernment’sabilitytomeet,in
thefuture,financialliabilitiesrelatedtocontractedobligations.
Fiscalpolicyis,thus,notstableifitimpliesexcessiveaccumulation
ofdebtovertimeandincreasedcoststoserviceit.
Inrecentyears,acertainchangeinapproachtotheissuesoffiscal
stabilitycan,however,beobserved.Theshiftiswellillustratedby
thedefinitiondepictingstabilityastheavoidanceofanexcessive
increaseofgovernmentdebtinordertoalleviatetheburdenplaced
onfuturegenerations,whilesupplyingsocietywithnecessarypub-
licservicesincludingrelevantsecurityforhardtimes,andanability
tochangethepursuedpolicyinreactiontonewchallengesfaced6.
And,thus,itisalsotheabilityofthestatetofulfilthetasksitisfaced
withthatbecomesafactordeterminingfiscalstability.Consequent-
ly,fourdimensionsofstabilitymaybetalkedabout,including:
1)solvency-meaningthatthestateissolvent,i.e.capableof
meetingitsfinancialobligations;
2)growth(furthersustainableeconomicgrowthispossible);
3)stabilityitself-inwhichthetaxburdenstaysatastablelev-
el,thestatebeingabletofinancetheadoptedprogrammes
withnoneedtoresorttotaxsystemmodifications;
4)fairness-intergenerationalfairnessismaintained,andthe
costsofpublicservicesprovidedtosocietyarefinanced
mostlyfromcurrentrevenues,notbeingshiftedtofuture
generations(sothatthesefuturegenerationsarepossibly
notdeniedtherighttotheservicesprovidednow)7.
4IMF,AssessingStability,Washington2002,p.3.
5OECD,GovernmentataGlance2013,Paris2013,p.50.
6EuropeanCommission,FiscalStabilityReport2012,HEuropeanEcono-
my”2012,no.8,p.1.
7A.Schick,SustainableBudgetPolicy:ConceptsandApproaches,HOECD
JournalonBudgeting”2005,vol.5,no.1,pp.110-114.
CHAPTER1.FISCALSTABILITY
15