Balancing the Budget Revenues

Abstract

The fact that the problem of revenues is dealt with here in a separate chapter should not be taken to suggest that appropriations and revenues are in any way separable or mutually exclusive problems. To the contrary, the two are inextricably linked, although perhaps to a lesser degree in the United Nations than in governmental budgeting. During the various phases of the authorization, formulation, examination, and appropriation processes, the revenue problem is ever-present, often explicitly and always implicitly. Conversely, in the search for revenue, much emphasis is placed on the size and nature of the appropriations which have to be matched. Furthermore, decision-making on both expenditure and income is carried on more or less simultaneously; while the Advisory Committee is examining the budget, the Contributions Committee is formulating the scale of assessments, and ultimately, both measures must be considered side by side in the Fifth Committee and the Assembly.