『국가재정법』상 추가경정예산 편성 제한 규정의 법적 성격과 의미에 관한 고찰 = A Study on the Legal Aspect of Provisions Related to Supplementary Budgets -Focusing on Article 89 of the National Fiscal Act-

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper discusses how the legal provisions related to supplementary budgets should be interpreted. In this regard, other country cases on the legislation and application of legal provisions related to supplementary budgets are analysed, and Korea`s historical changes in the legislation of budget laws are studied. In contrast to other country cases, in Korea, legal provisions for formulating a supplementary budget are stated in the constitution. However, the National Fiscal Act, a law governed by the constitution, states that supplementary budgets can only be formulated in exceptional circumstances. This provision was introduced after the financial crisis of 1997, to strengthen the institutional mechanisms for ensuring fiscal soundness, Due to such discordance that exists in the legal system, confusions in interpretation as to the circumstances under which a supplementary budget can be formulated. are arising, Some argue that the provisions in the National Fiscal Act, differently from the constitution that allows the formulation of supplementary budgets, stipulates that supplementary budgets cannot be formulated in reality and is therefore unconstitutional (unconstitutionality). Others argue that the National Fiscal Act stipulates the detailed circumstances under which a supplementary budget can be formulated, and is therefore, constitutional (normative determinism). Some also argue that the National Fiscal Act stipulates provisions of a warning nature to ensure fiscal soundness when formulating supplementary budgets, and is therefore, constitutional (declarative determinism). Nevertheless, the government and the national assembly, which operate the supplementary budget System would not argue that the provisions in the National Fiscal Act are unconstitutional. The government, with the assertion that a supplementary budget needs to be formulated under the current economic situation, will submit a supplementary budget proposal to the national assembly. The national assembly will then review the supplementary budget proposal, in terms of whether it is in accordance with the provisions in the National Fiscal Act, or the adequacy of the details in the supplementary budget proposal. Taking into account the actual behavior of the government and the national assembly, this study argues and demonstrates that the provisions regarding supplementary budgets in the National Fiscal Act should be interpreted in the aspect of declarative determinism. Managing public finance requires a high level of policy decision making, and such policy decisions should be made through policy discussions between the government and the national assembly, rather than by laws and legal provisions. In addition to this demonstration, this study also discusses the need for amending or revising the constitution and the National Fiscal Act in order to resolve the existing discordance in the legal system, i.e., provisions regarding supplementary budgets should be deleted from the constitution as in other country cases, and provisions in the National Fiscal Act limiting the circumstances under which supplementary budgets can be formulated should be mitigated.