The Golden Rule is a guideline for the operation of fiscal policy. The Golden Rule states that "over the economic cycle, the Government will borrow only to invest and not to fund current spending". In layman's terms this means that on average over the ups and downs of an economic cycle the government should only borrow to pay for investment that benefits future generations. Day-to-day spending that benefits today's taxpayers should be paid for with today's taxes, not with leveraged investment. Therefore, over the cycle the current budget (i.e., net of investment) must balance or be brought into surplus.