To study this issue, it is important to consider how government budget variables are
recorded in the National Income Accounts, the source of the government sector data used
in this paper. The 1993 System of National Accounts (which is currently followed by all the countries in this sample)14 is based on the accrual principle: taxes are recorded at
the time of the activity that generates the obligation to pay them (for instance, when
the income is earned), and similarly for government spending. In practice, however, the
alternative cash principle, or some variant thereof, is often used: taxes and spending
are recorded at the time the cash transaction occurs (for instance, when a tax is actually
paid). Table 2, based on national sources, describes how each type of purchase is recorded
de facto (see Perotti [2003] for details).