New Unity of Government Cash Desk and Reform of the Cash Register in Russia

Abstract

The article is devoted to the assessment of changes in Russian budget legislation in recent years. These changes are connected with norms on the treasury account system, treasury service and treasury support. Collectively, these changes are assessed as reforms of the cash structure of the state. The article analyzes the advantages and potential capabilities of the new cash register system, including from the point of view of financial stability. It gives a classification of the existing type of cash structure in Russia, which is characterized as mixed (combining the competence of the banking system and the government), subject to the regime of unity of the cash register. At the same time, the concept of cash monopoly is introduced, which corresponds to the state monopoly on banking activities. In addition, the author concluded that it is advisable to update the definition of the principle of the unity of budget account, enshrined in the Budget Code of the Russian Federation. This decision is associated with the actual extension of state control to new types financial assets, any private finances and the functioning of the state payment system (treasury payment system). The author’s version of this definition is proposed. The new definition includes a feature that allows the cash register to be separated in compliance with the unity of the cash register from the cash monopoly mode. This feature makes it possible to establish a systematic connection between the unity of the cash register, as a legal principle, with other legal principles, including the constitutional level. The proposed changes, according to the author, on the one hand create an opportunity to concentrate significant financial resources in the hands of the government and provide new opportunities for analysis, management and control in the field of public finance, and on the other hand, avoid the introduction of emergency measures, in particular, in the form of a cash monopoly. The part of the article is devoted to the limits of the spread of treasury support and the unity of the cash register, which are considered through a number of dichotomous pairs that arise at the junction of public and private interests, where the freedom of the parties to the contract is limited by the norms of budget legislation. In particular, this is a limitation of the payment obligations of the budget arising from concluded state (municipal) contracts and the problem of transferring ownership of funds allocated from the budget. This method is proposed to implement to test the legal regulation of the budget process.