Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute - Budget Transparency

The budget is the heart of policymaking. It allocates public resources toward public ends and is the single most telling indicator of the values, the desired outcomes and the philosophy embodied in government. The budget should provide solid information on what taxpayers pay in taxes and what they obtain for their money. It should be easy for taxpayers and lawmakers to deterine who pays for and who recieves the benefits of government and what those benefits cost. The budget should exhibit the ends that government intends to accomplish and the means to fulfill those ends. For this reason, of all the deliberative actions undertaken by any level of government, the budget process and documents should be the most open or transparent to citizens.