LAW5608 Fiscal Law — Unit 1: Introduction

Unit 1: Introduction

1.1 Meaning of Public Finance

Public finance — the state’s money-science: the revenue’s raising (the taxes-and-borrowing), the expenditure’s spending (the services-and-investments), the deficits-and-debt’s management — the government’s household at the nation’s scale. The discipline’s branches (the lawyer’s map): the revenue law (the taxes); the expenditure law (the budget-and-appropriation); the debt law; the fiscal-administration law (the departments-and-audit).

1.2 Concept of Fiscal Power and its Limitations

The fiscal power — the state’s power to take-and-spend: the taxing power (the compulsory taking — the sovereignty’s oldest attribute); the spending power; the borrowing power; the monetary’s border (the NRB’s domain). The limitations (the law’s answers to the power’s dangers):

1. The constitutional limits: the no-taxation-without-law principle (the tax’s statutory basis — the parliament’s monopoly); the annuality (the budget’s year); the appropriation’s discipline (the spending’s authorisation); the federal division (the three-level fiscal powers of Arts 56-60’s verified frame).
2. The rights’ limits: the property’s respect (the tax’s due process — the proportionality’s application).
3. The political limits: the parliament’s control (the budget’s passage; the accounts’ scrutiny); the electorate’s ultimate answer.
4. The international limits: the treaties’ constraints (the WTO’s bindings of the trade course).

1.3 Meaning of Fiscal Law

Fiscal law — the public finance’s legal frame: the rules governing the state’s revenue-expenditure-debt (the fiscal power’s exercise-and-limits). The law’s character: the public-law core (the state-and-citizen relation); the statute-centred discipline (the annual-and-permanent statutes); the technical-and-policy blend (the law serving the economics).

1.4 Sources of Fiscal Law

1. The Constitution (the fiscal constitution: Arts 59-60’s fiscal powers-and-sharing (the verified texts); the parliament’s money-powers (the budget-and-taxation faces); the AG’s audit (Art 240-ish’s verified frame)).
2. The statutes (the tax acts (U5); the budget-and-appropriation acts; the IGFA Act 2074).
3. The delegated instruments (the finance minister’s rules; the departmental directives; the rates’ notifications).
4. The international layer (the WTO’s tariff bindings; the DTAs (the double-taxation agreements’ line); the IFIs’ conditions).
5. The jurisprudence (the fiscal cases — the tax disputes’ line (the prescribed cases’ cluster)).

1.5 Importance of Public Finance in a Welfare State

The welfare’s finance: the rights’ funding (the health-education-social-security catalogue of the constitutional promise — the directives’ price); the redistribution (the progressive taxation’s equity function); the stabilisation (the counter-cyclical role); the public goods (the infrastructure-and-services); the development’s engine (the planning’s resource base — 1.6’s link).

1.6 Role of Public Finance in Economic Planning and Development

1. The plans’ financing (the periodic plans’ resource estimation; the national-budget alignment).
2. The investment’s mobilisation (the capital budget; the PPPs’ faces).
3. The priorities’ instrument (the budget-as-policy: the allocations’ statement).
4. The federal development’s faces (the equalisation’s aim — the lagging-regions’ lift).
5. The fiscal-sustainability’s discipline (the debt’s prudence; the deficit’s management — the developing-country’s perennial balance).

Model Questions

1. What is fiscal power? Explain its limitations. (10)
2. Define fiscal law and its sources. (10)
3. Explain the importance of public finance in a welfare state. (10)

---

📚 Get the complete notes: Download the full Fiscal Law PDF (all units) — Law Info Nepal Original Notes Series.