In October of 1995, the Austrian federal government was not able to agree on a budget proposal for 1996; as a result, the coalition government broke up, and general elections were called for December 1995. A provisional budget will be in effect until the late winter or spring of 1996 when it might...

The preliminary audit figures for the 1998 Federal budget show that consolidation was continued in the past year. It should be noted that the once-only measures, which had still made noticeable inroads on the deficit in 1997, were rather weaker in their impact in 1998. For some items on the...

With the beginning of 1992 a fundamental change in the taxation of beverages took effect. An ad-valorem tax on alcohol was replaced by a (higher) volume-related tax. Even though this change was revenue-neutral, it resulted in price increases for beer and spirits and a decrease in price-adjusted...

The rise in government debt has to be set against a steady accumulation of assets by the public sector. A comparison between these trends shows that only for central government liabilities grow faster than net acquisitions of wealth. States, local communities and other public institutions have...