Final answer:
The budget process is how the government plans its spending and revenue collection, but it is influenced by politics, which involves decision-making based on societal values and priorities. Political decisions and unexpected events can cause shifts in these plans. The President and Congress engage in a negotiation process, underscoring the political nature of budgeting.
Step-by-step explanation:
The budget process entails a systematic way in which a country's government decides how to allocate public resources. All levels of government—federal, state, and local—draft budgets showcasing anticipated revenue and expenditures. However, the budget process is not static; it is influenced and routinely altered by politics, which encompasses the decision-making process based on the chosen values and priorities of the society. These policy decisions and unexpected events often disrupt previous budget plans. The President submits a proposed budget to Congress, which is often regarded as a wish list, since the actual budget process involves negotiations and can become quite contentious. Politics determines which societal values translate into financial priorities, whether it aligns with individualism by reducing regulation and cutting taxes or with egalitarianism by raising taxes to fund public services. Meanwhile, government seeks to shield long-term priorities from short-term opinion shifts and protect the economy through policies that are at times insulated from legislative changes. Hence, the influence of politics is pivotal in the budgeting process, as it reflects and enacts a nation's values and priorities through fiscal decisions.