The Politics of Public Budgeting by Irene Rubin - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review This paper is a review of the book The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing by Irene S. Rubin. The subtitle of the book suggests the reader regarding the breadth of the topic that is covered in this book. The author has explained politics of budgeting as involvement of both taxing and spending, and how the connection between these two conditions is reflected in borrowing and balancing. The one difference that can be seen in this book with that of other budgeting books is that Rubin’s book emphasizes more on public spending than on taxation. According to Rubin the study of public budgeting in its entirety is not possible if spending strategies are not analyzed based on the revenue patterns. Rubin states that if politicians refrain from raising taxes above a certain extent at times of deficit and instead if they attempt to restrain budgetary decisions, then almost without fail higher tax rate will hit the entire population on January 1 which can push the country towards recession. Moreover, Rubin discusses the politics of taxation and spending in the context of local, state and national levels. She has also provided various case studies at all the three levels to prove her generalized views on this topic. Although there have been numerous books that have concentrated on the ethics of politics in the context of public budgeting, Irene Rubin has strived to take a different view of the same. She has stated that the process of making budgetary decisions is largely subjected to “environmental changes” (Rubin, 29) and various policies can cause disputes. Such policy disputes can delay budgetary decisions or even can abort any decisions. In the first chapter of the book, the author has argued that for the purpose of making analysis of public budgeting, it needs to be divided into five “separate but linked decision clusters : revenues, process, expenditures, balance, and implementation” (Rubin, 29). Each stream has its own decision making policies which are although made independent from each other nevertheless take reference from each other. Any decisions regarding spending are made by studying the total revenues even if the estimation of the latter has not been finalized. Rubin has also stated that each cluster has its own distinct set of characteristics like one can be more interest oriented while the other can be more subjected to competition and still another can be based on certain ideologies. Moreover, many decisions are based on the preferences of elected officials or the public. The subsequent chapters of the book focus on the five budgetary decision clusters. However, one positive element of Rubin’s book is that the chapters are not isolated with distinct topics, but each of the chapters are based on theoretical concepts which are common in more than one chapters. For instance, discussion of each chapter is reliant on various concepts like the involved individuals and organizations, the dependence of budgetary decisions on environmental changes, difference between the tax payers and the decision makers, conflict between policies, and legal and economic barriers of decision making. Rubin has not taken the debating approach of budgeting being politically incremental; rather she has focused on the integration between different groups of participants, budget officials and executives. Under the revenue stream, the author has discussed the estimation of revenues that can be garnering from the following year considering there will be no alteration in political decisions of tax structures. She has talked about the necessity of granting tax breaks to certain parties and the importance of certain tax sources and their effect on people from different social and economic backgrounds. In the chapter focusing on budget process cluster, Rubin has discussed about the basic process of making budgetary decisions like which interest groups should have more power in this process and how the work should be allocated. In the context of expenditure cluster, Rubin has talked about the possible expenditures that can occur as a result of grants which are reliant on formulas and the number of benefit programs that is decided by the rate of unemployment in the country. The author has also discussed expenditure policies which decide the funding priority of different programs, and the positive impact of each program. One of the most important chapters of the book is the sixth one which is “The Politics of Balancing the Budget” (Rubin, 172-214). In this chapter, the author has discussed about the various aspects of budgetary decisions like the involved parties, ideologies and deficits. She has talked about the impact of environmental changes that leads of unpredictability in the next year’s budgetary decisions. In this chapter, Rubin has addressed certain questions like whether budgetary decisions need to be adjusted according to revenue sources and whether borrowing needs to be encouraged to adjust the deficits, and if so then the extent of borrowing and for how much time. In the budget implementation chapter, the author has discussed such topics that are concerned with level of expenditure that should be allowed to maintain consistency with the budget, and what justification can be given if the expenditure level is far moved from the established budget. Also, Rubin has attempted to understand whether budget can be restructured after the same has already been approved in a particular year. According to Rubin (p.2), “Budgetary decision making provides a picture of the relative power of budget actors within and between branches of government, as well as of the importance of citizens, interest groups, and political parties”. In the concluding chapter “Budgetary Decision Making and Politics” (Rubin, 276-295) the author has summed up the differences between the five budgetary decision clusters and how they are interconnected with common theoretical concepts. She has also provided avenues for future research along with suggestions that budgetary policies must be more transparent so that the public can trust that the resources are allocated according to necessity of each program, and that the resources will be used according to the approved decisions. In all, Rubin’s book can prove to be useful for students and scholars who are interested in public budgeting. Reference Rubin, Irene S. The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing, CQ Press, 2013 Read More