Public Finance Reform

One of the main goals of the Clean Air Action Group is promotion of public finance reforms in accordance with the needs of sustainable development. Such an eco-social public finance reform is accompanied by the following beneficial results:

- improvement in environmental and public health;
- a significant step toward a knowledge-based society;
- structural modernization of the domestic economy;
- increase in employment;
- the domestic labour market becomes more competitive;
- reduction in the national budget deficit and the public debt;
- improvement in the nation’s trade balance;
- moderation of social tensions;
- more efficient use of raw materials and energy supplies;
- improvement in the conditions of education, culture, health services and scientific research;
- shrinking of the grey and black (illegal) economies;
- more efficient operation of government; and
- more effective participation in international cooperation activities, particularly within the European Union.

The most essential element of eco-social public finance is the development of market prices that reflect the true costs. This means that the direct and indirect government subsidies that are contradictory to market economy principles must be eliminated. Exceptions to this are subsidies for public services or that are for the public good; however, this exception applies to only the end-user. (For example, if we consider public transportation, the passenger must not necessarily pay the full cost of the ticket or pass; however, the transport company must face the true cost of all its activities.)

The Clean Air Action Group has since 1992 regularly prepared studies in this connection, which, among other things, put forward concrete recommendations to decision-makers. In recent years the most important studies have been:

Közlekedési támogatások – A közlekedéssel kapcsolatos állami bevételek és kiadások (Transport subsidies - State income and expenditures in connection with transport), Clean Air Action Group - Fresh Breath Foundation, 2005.

Segítik-e a gazdasági fejlődést az autópályák? (Do motorways help economic development?), Clean Air Action Group, 2005.
https://www.levego.hu/sites/default/files/konyvtar/olvaso/autopalya.pdf

Környezetvédelmi szempontból káros támogatások a magyar gazdaságban (Harmful subsidies, from the environmental viewpoint, in the Hungarian economy), Clean Air Action Group - Fresh Breath Foundation, 2004.
https://www.levego.hu/sites/default/files/konyvtar/olvaso/karostamogatas.pdf

Az államháztartás ökoszociális reformjának szükségessége és lehetőségei – Ajánlások a 2004. évi állami költségvetéshez (The necessity and possibilities for eco-social reform of public finance - Recommendations to the 2004 annual budget), Clean Air Action Group, 2003.
https://www.levego.hu/konyvtar/olvaso/koltsegvetes/koltsegvetes.htm