I sort of understand the printer cartridge thing. My printer uses them up like cotton candy at $75 per.
We do go through a lot of paper in these post-paper days.
The government punishes those who try to be good custodians of tax-payer money. If you have a year where you don't have a number of expenses because you have built up a supply or the last furniture is in place, your next year's budget will be cut because "you obviously don't need the money". On military bases, the units plan a budget. Come end-of-year time, the Group on the base will do a check and tell units that if they have extra by such-and-such date, it will be confiscated and put in a pool for units that may have already burned through their dough and have found even more creative ways to spend.