State budgets in Australia: Trends and implications

Each state and territory government produces an annual budget. Budget documents set out what the local Treasury expects to receive as its share of commonwealth taxes and 'own source' revenues (including state taxes, charges, fees and fines, and dividends from government-owned businesses). They also detail how those revenues are to be spent including allocations to ministerial portfolios and to sets of activities called 'programs'. If revenues exceed expenses, the government is said to have a 'surplus'. If expenses exceed revenues, the budget result is a 'deficit'.