As part of the project Active Citizens – Better Society: Advocating for Cooperation and Democratic Development, a webinar was held on Wednesday, September 30th, 2020, via the Zoom platform on the topic of budget and budget advocacy.
At the very beginning, lecturer Mladen Jovanovic pointed out that the budget is actually the most important policy in a country, while budget advocacy is only advocacy for larger budget allocations. The participants were acquainted with the attitude of budget revenues at the national level and the local level, citing examples from different local communities in Serbia. It was found that the largest budget revenue at the national level comes from value added tax and excise duties, while at the local level, the most important income represents the income tax, and then the property tax. A significant difference between the planned and realized budget was also pointed out.
Also, part of the lecture was dedicated to the budget phases, as well as the budget calendar, both on local and the national level.
In the second part of the webinar, participants learned about the use of public funds, and how inflation affects budget planning in the coming year and its real value, as well as certain myths and legends that accompany budget planning, such as public debt and budget surplus.
