Deconstructing the Annual Budgetary Process: A Human Rights Perspective (Jan 11)
TASC today launched the first of two discussion papers examining the human rights issues surrounding the annual Budgeting process. The discussion papers form part of a collaboration between TASC and Amnesty International. The discussion paper being launched today, Deconstructing the Annual Budgetary Process: A Human Rights Perspective, was written by Paul Sweeney, Chairperson of the TASC Economists’ Network. The discussion paper is available for download here.
Launching the paper this afternoon, TASC Director Dr Nat O’Connor said:
“TASC is dedicated to promoting equality, including economic equality. Our levels of economic equality are heavily affected by decisions made in the Budget on taxation, social welfare and the funding of public services. If we are to ensure that all such measures have equality at their core, we need to analyse the budgetary process to assess how the impacts on human rights and equality.
“In view of the recent debate on the Finance Bill – which gives legal force to Budgetary decisions – these discussion papers are particularly timely. They remind us that it is not only the manner in which we allocate resources that has a human rights impact: we also need to examine the manner in which we generate resources.
“As we head into a General Election campaign, the parties will be laying out their stalls, giving us all an opportunity to assess the equality and human rights impacts of a range of policy choices”, Dr O’Connor concluded.