Which is the course taken by taxpayers' money from the tax collection to public coffers? And how do such resources become government programs or bills? These are questions that the book: O Orçamento dos brasileiros: Por que ele não desperta maior interesse?? (The Brazilians? Budgets: Why isn?t it so interesting?) seeks to answer. Authored by researchers Fernando Rezende and Armando Cunha, from the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV/EBAPE), the publication, prepared by FGV Projetos, intends to clarify certain points that are often obscure and even boring for many people.

People go to the streets to complain about the poor functioning of public services, but don?t realize that poor public management is linked to the budget, says Fernando Rezende to the newspaper Brasil Econômico.  According to the professor, a survey carried out on the streets revealed that even those who know what budget means are not interested in it; in addition, those interested in public resources do not know how they work. At a time when people talk about fiscal transparency and laws demanding the disclosure of budget data are published, people are not concerned in demystifying public money and unstick it from the budget jargon. That is the meaning of our effort, he explained.

Also according to Fernando Rezende, the country's budget needs to be reformed. The law in effect turns 50 years old in March and more than 90% of the money that comes into the federal government's coffers is destined to pay debts - including those resulting from the agreements signed during the drafting of the 1988 Constitution. What should define the behavior of budget and expenditure are the specific needs of society in that period, and not the rules established in a constitutional text, he says.

Fernando Rezende and Armando Cunha are also authors of the book ?A Reforma Esquecida: o orçamento, gestão pública e desenvolvimento?(The Forgotten Reform: budget, public management and development), published by FGV Press last year.

The book O Orçamento dos brasileiros: Por que ele não desperta maior interesse?? is available free and online. Please click here and find out more (in Portuguese).