Way towards balanced budget. The United States of America and the European Union

The principle of balanced budget is one of the most fundamental budgetary principles. It guarantees that the state expenditure does not go beyond the amount of the revenue received for a given fiscal year. Therefore, a possibility of budgetary deficit - so dangerous for the financial stability of the state - is precluded. The paper describes the functioning and the legal mechanism of systems which have been responsible for the balanced budget in the USA since the 1985 Gramm-Rudman-Holdings Act reform, and the system in the European Union. It is worth noticing that together with the principle of the equilibrium, it is necessary to impose a compliance of the state budget with the principle of universality, and - for technical reasons - the principles of annuality and unity.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201