VERTICAL IMBALANCE IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION BUDGET SYSTEM

Abstract

The problem of vertical imbalance in the budgetary system is typical for many states, including the Russian Federation. Excessive centralization of tax revenues at the federal level along with the decentralization of expenditures at the regional and local levels lead to distortions in the budget system of Russia. Thus, the ratio of revenues, excluding inter-budgetary transfers, of the federal and territorial budgets in Russia in 2006-2018 was approximately 65:35. The use of inter-budgetary transfers allows solving to a certain extent the imbalance problem and ensuring the equalization of federal and subfederal budget revenues to a ratio of 55 to 45. For fairness, it should be noted that most budget expenditures are also financed from the federal budget. The ratio of expenditures of the federal and territorial budgets is approximately at the level of 60 to 40, and in 2016-2018 it was 50 to 50. However, in modern conditions, maintaining the volume of inter-budgetary transfers provided from the federal budget to regional budgets at the same level becomes difficult. In this regard, the issues of ensuring a balance of regional and municipal budgets in Russia do not lose their relevance.