Recently the the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK ) held the 3rd session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly , the highest organ of state power in the DPRK . At the session a report was given on the state budget . Of course this is nothing unusual or out of the ordinary .Most countries usually present a state budget . In the UK the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister ) usually gives a budget speech outlining the budget for the next year which usually contains public spending cuts and tax rises .
What stands out about the DPRK budget is that the DPRK actually has a small budgetary surplus , okay not a massive one but a budgetary surplus never the less (it is said that in state finance both large deficits and large surpluses are unhealthy ) . In the financial year from April 2019 to April 2020 , the plan for expenditure was implemented at 99.8 percent, an undershoot of 0.2 percent but the plan for revenue was exceeded by 1.5 percent thus generating a 1.7 percent budgetary surplus . Now compare this to a whopping £69 billion budget deficit in the UK and a $666 billion deficit in the USA ! Failed states , anyone ? . I remember at a Christmas party at a friend’s house a Swiss party guest pointed out that the UK has ever ‘paid its way ‘ or ‘earned what is spent ‘ since the end of World War Two .
Is the DPRK’s budgetary surplus because , they are making spending cuts all the time and pushing austerity ? No it is not ! . In fact during the past year the DPRK increased spending on health ,education , construction and science . Moreover it plans to increase spending in the coming year . n the coming financial year on average public spending will rise by 5.1 per cent with a 7.4 per cent in spending on health.
So do Korean people pay high taxes ? Is the DPRK going to hike up council tax and VAT ? . No !
The DPRK actually abolished all taxation in the spring of 1974 some 46 years ago . Where does the money came from then ? It comes from the profits of state owned industry . As the DPRK budget report states “Out of the state budgetary revenue, the budgetary revenue from centrally-run economic field will hold 74. 3 percent and therefore, the revenue from the centrally-run economy would hold a dominating proportion.” . In the DPRK the means of production , distribution and exchange are state owned which means that the wealth created by them can be used to benefit the people . Simple really .
When you take into account that the DPRK is faced with massive sanctions and blockades its achievements look even more spectacular . The fact that the DPRK is able to increase spending without having to raise taxes or borrow huge sums is testimony to the superiority of Juche -based socialism and the vitality of the self-reliant , independent national economy .
