Chapter 12 Flashcards
The Texas state budget is exceeded only by those of California ____
New York
What is not true about recent state budgets?
Demands for state services have decreased over time
Adjusting for population and inflation, state spending grew at an average annual of ____ over the last 20 years
0.8%
During the 2012-2013 fiscal year, what percent of estimated Texas revenues came from state taxes?
44%
During the 2012 - 2013 fiscal year, what percent of estimated Texas revenues came from the federal government?
39%
The income tax became available to the national government with the ratification of which amendment to the United States Constitution?
16
Individual and corporate income taxes immediately became the national government’s major source of funding and today, the constitute approximately ____ of federal tax revenue
56%
Property taxes were once the major source of state revenue until ___
the Great Depression of the 1930s
In 1931, Texas adopted a tax on ____
cigarettes
Broadly based taxes collected on the retail price of most items are called ____
general sales tax
Selective sales taxes in Texas are ____
applied to liquor sales
What kinds of taxes are included in the retail prices of the goods and services?
Hidden taxes
Texas’s largest single individual revenue source is ____
federal funds
All the following items have a hidden tax included in their prices except ___
real estate
A ____ is a tax on raw material when they are extracted from their natural state
severance tax
What is Texas’s general sales tax on retail purchases?
6.25%
The general sales tax yielded what percent of the state’s revenue?
24.8%
What taxes are the major sources of revenue for virtually all local government, cities, counties, and special duties?
Property taxes
What has occurred because of Texas’s state government imposed mandates on local governments?
State taxes have remained low, bit local taxes are higher than in many states
Property taxes are the major source of revenue for virtually all of the following governments except ____
national government
Which tax may be applied to two major types of property including real property and personal property?
Ad valorem
Ad valorem taxes may not be applied to what?
The sale of real estate
Ad valorem means ___
“according to value”
What has the authority to determine the property tax rate on real property in a county?
The commissioners’ courts
What tax is not considered one of the most effective at easing revenue?
Narrowed based
____ is a tax designed to be paid by a large number of taxpayers
Broad based tax
In the battle over taxation, one of the most intense issues is ____
what should be taxed
What is not a common political rationalization for taxing various groups differently?
To appease the general public back home
A tax with the intent of exerting social or economic control by reducing taxes on approved behaviors or imposing higher taxes on undesirable activities is____
regulatory tax
Regulatory taxes are sometimes called _____
Sin tax
An exercise of “sin” tax is levied on the sale, manufacture, or use of all the following expect
snacks
The gasoline tax is an example of what type of tax?
benefits received
What does not fall under the category of the benefits received principle?
Local school taxes
The most common ability to pay taxes are levied except ____
gasoline
What is not seldom taxed?
Real estate
What percentage of Americans pays no income tax at all?
40%
Tax rates that place more of a burden on low and middle income taxpayers than on wealthier ones care called _____
regressive tax rates
Declining marginal propensity to consume means ____
as income increases, spending increases proportionately
What income groups in Texas paid the highest percentage in effective taxes?
Lower
What state does not collect a small percentage of their resident’s income than Texas?
Alaska
____ advocate that taxes on higher income individuals should be kept low to allow them t save and invest to stimulate the economy
supply siders
For the 2012-2013 biennium, Texas will receive approximately ____ in federal funds, which represents 30% of state revenue
$71 billion
At the beginning of each legislative session, the ___ reports to the legislature the total amount of revenues expected from current taxes and other sources
Comptroller of public accounts
State bonds that are repaid with eh revenues from the service they financed are called ____
revenue bonds
General obligation bonds cannot be used for what?
Higher education bonds financed by tuition revenue
It is through what process that the legislature legally authorizes the state to spend money to provide its various programs and services?
appropriations
Trading votes among legislators, especially to fund local projects to benefit their constituents, is called ____
logrolling
Texas ranked ____ among the 50 states in overall per capita spending
47th
The most costly service in Texas is ____
education
In 1949, which law increased state funding and established the Texas Education Agency which carries out the states educational program
Gilmer Aiken
The State Board of Education does all of the except
make routine managerial decisions
The Texas’s ranking of population older than 25 with a high school diploma is ____
50th
Which law “recaptured” property tax revenue from property wealthy school districts and distributed those in property poor districts, in an effort to equalize the financing of all districts throughout Texas?
Robin Hood plan
When did the state of Texas initiate the top 10% plan?
When the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals riled that race could not be considered in affirmative action admission policies
What is not a level of state involvement in health care?
When advocates socialized medicine
TxDOT planned to use comprehensive development agreement with private entities to develop a highly ambitious and controversial 50 year program to supplement existing highways. What was this program called?
Trans Texas Corridor
What did the Trans Texas Corridor not include?
Housing
According to the Davis essay, the slow decrease of support from the state has lead many colleges and universities to rely more on ____
part time faculty, increased class sizes and offering fewer courses
