On 10 June 2014, in terms of the Open Governance Partnership, Minister of Finance of Georgia, Nodar Khaduri, met with the media. The Minister elaborated on the tax income segment of the budget. “From January to May, GEL 2.8 billion has been mobilised in the total budget which is GEL 130 million more than it was in the same period of the previous year. The tax income plan of January-May 2014 has been implemented by 101%. The income in these five months constituted almost 40% of the annual budget,” stated Mr Khaduri.
FactChecktook interest in the income segment of the 2014 total budget and verified the accuracy of the Minister’s statement. From January to May 2014 the share of tax incomes in the total budget was GEL 2,786.5 million. In the same period of 2013 the amount of tax incomes was GEL 2,655.9 million. As we can see, the amount of tax incomes in the total budget was GEL 130 million more in the first half of 2014 than in the same period of the previous year – just as the Minister stated.
According to the data of the first five months of 2014, the revenues in the total budget amounted to GEL 3,058.2 million. The annual plan of the revenues is GEL 7,909.0 million. Hence, as we can see, the revenues from January to May 2014 constituted 39% of the annual revenue plan.
Nodar Khaduri also highlighted that there were no problems in the tax incomes of the first five months of 2014 and the plan was implemented by 101%. Since the five-month plan was not available, we compared the data of the first six months to the respective plan. According to the data received from the Ministry of Finance, the revenue plan of the first half of the 2014 total budget was implemented by 101.3%. The tax incomes constituted 102.5% of the initial plan. However, according to the data, the budget was not properly implemented in the segment of grants.
Total Budget of 2014| Segment | Plan(First Six Months of 2014) | Data(First Six Months of 2014) | Implementation in % |
| Revenues | 3,664,362.0 | 3,713,724.9 | 101.3 |
| Tax Incomes | 3,327,000.0 | 3,409,346.2 | 102.5 |
| Grants | 100,121.0 | 47,703.7 | 47.6 |
| Other Revenues | 237,241.0 | 256,675.0 | 108.2 |
Conclusion
From January to May 2014 the share of tax incomes in the total budget was GEL 2,786.5 million which was GEL 130 million more than in the same period of 2013. According to the data of the first six months of 2014, the tax incomes constituted 102.5% of the initial plan. The share of revenues in the first five months of 2014 was almost 39% of the annual plan. Furthermore, the revenues of the first six months of 2014 were 101.3% of the respective plan.
We conclude that Nodar Khaduri’s statement: “From January to May, GEL 2.8 billion has been mobilised in the total budget which is GEL 130 million more than it was in the same period of the previous year. The tax income plan of January-May 2014 has been implemented by 101%. The income in these five months constituted almost 40% of the annual budget,” is TRUE.
