Final answer:
The term "negative taxes" is best described as transfer payments, which are distributions of money by the government to individuals as part of automatic stabilizers in fiscal policy.
Step-by-step explanation:
The so-called "negative taxes" are better known as transfer payments. Transfer payments are a form of government spending where money is distributed to individuals, typically without them providing goods or services in return. These are considered automatic stabilizers in fiscal policy because they can increase when the economy is performing poorly, such as with unemployment benefits, or decrease when the economy is doing well and less financial assistance is required. Automatic stabilizers are designed to work without any additional legislative action, thus acting as a form of contractionary or expansionary fiscal policy as needed to help stabilize the economy.
Discretionary fiscal policy, on the other hand, involves explicit legislative changes to tax or spending levels to influence economic activity. Budget deficits occur when government spending exceeds tax revenues, while budget surpluses occur when tax revenues exceed government spending. It's important to distinguish transfer payments from these concepts, as well as from the effects of automatic stabilizers, which are the broader category of fiscal tools that help regulate economic performance.