4.3.1 Definition of the Government Budget


2026 Syllabus Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

  • Define what a government budget is
  • Explain what a budget deficit and a budget surplus are
  • Calculate the budget balance using the correct formula
  • Understand what national debt is and how it relates to a budget deficit

What Is the Government Budget?

Every year, the government makes a plan. It decides:

  • How much money it will spend (on things like schools, hospitals, roads, and the military)
  • How much money it expects to receive (mainly from taxes)

This plan is called the government budget. Think of it like a household budget — your family plans how much to spend on food, rent, and electricity, and checks if their income covers it all.

The government budget is usually published once a year and shows the government's financial plans for the coming year.


Government Revenue vs. Government Spending

To understand the budget, you need to know two key ideas:

  • Government revenue — the money the government receives, mainly through taxes (e.g. income tax, sales tax). This is the money coming in.
  • Government expenditure (spending) — the money the government spends on public services and programmes. This is the money going out.

The Budget Balance Formula

The budget balance tells us whether the government is spending more or less than it earns. It is calculated like this:

Budget Balance = Government Revenue − Government Expenditure

The result tells us one of three things:

ResultWhat it means
Revenue > SpendingBudget Surplus — government earns more than it spends
Revenue < SpendingBudget Deficit — government spends more than it earns
Revenue = SpendingBalanced Budget — government earns exactly what it spends

Budget Surplus

A budget surplus happens when the government collects more money than it spends.

  • For example: if revenue = $900 billion and spending = $800 billion, the surplus = $100 billion.
  • A surplus means the government has "extra" money. It can use this to pay off past debts or save for the future.

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