The National Assembly decides on central and local budgets.

The National Assembly must decide on the whole budget, not just a part of the budget, and must manage public debt.

Session view

Clause 4, Article 75, in the draft amendment to the 1992 Constitution states two options for the National Assembly to decide on the State budget.

Option 1: The National Assembly decides on the State budget estimate and allocates the Central budget, and approves the State budget settlement.

Option 2: The National Assembly decides on the estimate and allocation of the central budget, and approves the final settlement of the central budget.

Regarding this content, delegate Tran Du Lich (HCMC delegation) said that it is necessary to clearly distinguish the national budget represented by the central government and approved by the National Assembly, including the central expenditure and the expenditure allocated to localities. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between the central budget and the local budget. Whatever belongs to the nation, the National Assembly must estimate, supervise and settle every VND. Whatever belongs to the locality, even if it is VND100, it is decided by the local People's Council. "I support option 2, but it must be clearer which part is the local budget and which part is the national budget, and local support is included in the part that must be handled. This provision must create conditions for increasing autonomy in the local budget. The larger the local self-collected amount, the greater the autonomy, and the smaller the self-collected amount, the less autonomy. That is a driving force for our long-term development."

Agreeing with option 1 and giving his opinion on this content, Delegate Dang Dinh Luyen (Khanh Hoa delegation) argued: Option 1 basically inherits the 1992 Constitution and in fact, in recent years, we have had no problems. Furthermore, our State is a unitary State, unified from the Central to the local levels, so the management and operation of the country, including the decision on the State budget, must ensure comprehensive unity and the assignment to the National Assembly to decide on the estimate and approve the State budget settlement, including the Central budget and local budgets, is a reasonable option and ensures unity.

Sharing this view, delegate Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh (Dak Nong delegation) said: The National Assembly has decided on the budget allocation for what type of budget, so approving and finalizing that budget is appropriate.

The delegate explained that option 1, the National Assembly approves the state budget settlement, which means it includes the approval of the central budget settlement. Option 1 includes option 2. On the other hand, option 2 has the additional idea of ​​"reviewing the summary report of the state budget estimate and settlement" which is unnecessary. Because before deciding on the estimate and allocation as well as approving the budget settlement, the National Assembly must study, discuss, and review the estimate and the budget settlement.

Delegate Bui Duc Thu (Lai Chau delegation) also agreed with the first option, and said that the regulation as option 1 is consistent with the authority of the National Assembly as the highest State power agency, consistent with the obligation of National Assembly deputies to represent the people of the whole country to decide on important issues of the country, including issues of finance and budget. Deciding on the state budget is not a part of the state budget. The regulation according to option 1 also ensures the consistency of the state budget system and if the National Assembly only decides on the central budget, it will lead to the implementation of some areas such as education and training, science and technology. This budget is arranged both centrally and locally (the part decided by the 63 provinces and cities cannot be equal to the part from the Central Resolution).

According to the Law on Public Debt Management, the National Assembly has the duty to manage public debt. The law stipulates that public debt includes government debt, government-guaranteed debt and local government debt. “If the National Assembly only decides on the central budget, I am afraid that our public debt management will be difficult to control, affecting national financial security”./.

According to (vov.vn) - LT