MPs talk about money a lot. The rest of us often blank out the financials as 'just math'. Annoyingly the money is important so The House tries to explain all that dry 'Appropriations' money talk.
MPs go on about money endlessly, despite all our mothers' chiding that focusing on cash is in poor taste. It's not that they're gauche nouveau riche pillocks, it's because a parliament is each nation's fund-raiser, banker and auditor, while the government is the main spender.
Among parliament's key roles are giving the government permission to raise money, and permission to spend money.
For the trifecta, they also spend inordinate amounts of time ferreting into the details of spending to make sure it was all appropriate. And also, just looking for things to complain about.
The problem with the money focus is (and I apologise to accountants everywhere for saying this) talking about money can be really boring.
But there is a downside to ignoring it; Our aversion to math means we end up not knowing how it all actually works, but it is important, so it's worth having a clue.
The dryness is worth it; every time we say "appropriations" an accountant gets their wings.
The flavours of parliament's money bills
Confusingly, parliament passes at least five different kinds of money bills each year, and it's easy to mix them up.
The first couple of bills are easy.
Taxation: There is always at least one tax bill (usually more) which adjusts or confirms tax rates (or makes other tax adjustments). Those bills are parliament giving the government permission to raise revenue. They are always named like this: Taxation (the specific purpose of this one) Bill. (Yes, there's also customs and excise etc, but we're keeping it simple.)
Estimates: You already know there is always a budget - a spending plan from the government that parliament needs to approve. It's not called the budget though - it's called the Appropriation (insert the financial year Estimates) Bill, or the Estimates. For 'appropriation', think 'approved spending'. 'Estimates' is because it is really an estimate of spending.
So tax and spend - that part is simple. After that it gets more fiddly.
Supplementary Estimates: Because no budget plan is perfect and things change, adjustments to the budget plan are collated into a second appropriations bill for approval before the end of a financial year (30 June ). It is called the Appropriation (insert the financial year Supplementary Estimates) Bill. …