ed Enforcing 'pay-go' rule

With concern for fiscal soundness deepening amid rising demand for welfare, the government and the ruling party are flexing their muscles to restructure budgetary expenses.

As part of its efforts, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance urged government agencies and ministries to follow the “pay-as-you-go’’ rule in drafting next year’s budget in its guidelines handed out during a Cabinet meeting earlier this week.

Under the rule, each state agency must map out measures to increase revenue or cut expenditure before launching a new project or expanding existing ones.

The governing Saenuri Party also introduced a bill to apply the rule to legislative bills filed by lawmakers, which are usually aimed at currying up favors with the electorate.

The ruling camp’s moves to rein in unnecessary budgetary spending are welcome in principle, given the desperate need to tackle the worsening fiscal balance.

True, the current situation does not warrant optimism. The nation suffered a 21 trillion won budget deficit last year, the largest since 2009, due to increased expenses for economic revitalization and decreased tax revenue.

Last year’s tax collection fell short of the target by 8.5 trillion won, and the pace of tax collection in the first two months of this year was as slow as the same period last year.

In a nutshell, it looks as if the national coffers could be depleted amid rising outlays and falling revenue without due internal controls.

Given that the so-called “pay-go’’ rule is intended to prevent fiscal burdens from being pushed into the future, there is no reason to oppose it. Rather, it is necessary to speed up the spread of the rule.

The problem is that such belt-tightening efforts ring hollow to lawmakers who do not hesitate to spend taxpayers’ money for pork-barrel projects.

These populist moves are feared to become more intense in the run-up to the June 4 local elections at a time when mandatory spending accounts for nearly half of this year’s state budget.

So what is urgently needed is to put the brakes on lawmakers’ sugar-coated promises through their legislative power. It is worrisome indeed that nearly 900 bills written by lawmakers without due deliberation have already passed the current 19th term National Assembly.

Opposition lawmakers are reportedly opposing the ``pay-go’’ rule, alleging that their legislative power should not be limited at a time when our welfare level has yet to be satisfactory.

But this is never a partisan issue. The rival parties should negotiate a fair solution to help secure our long-term fiscal health.