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AP US Government > Chapter 13 > Flashcards

Chapter 13 Flashcards

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1
Q

“Taxes are what we pay for civilization”

A

Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes Jr.

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2
Q

The feather thing?

A

Jean-Baptist-Colbert

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3
Q

Three major sources of federal revenue?

A

Personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, social insurance taxes

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4
Q

What’s an excise tax?

A

A tax levied on the manufacture, transportation, sale or consumption of goods (example.. Taxes on gasoline)

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5
Q

First peacetime income tax in _______

A

1894

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6
Q

Where was the first peacetime income tax declared unconstitutional?

A

Pollock v. Farmer’s Loan and Trust Co (1895)

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7
Q

IRS- _____ tax returns each year

A

$140 million

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8
Q

In 2012, corporate taxes yielded about 10 cents of every federal revenue dollar, compared with _____ cents from individual income taxes

A

47

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9
Q

The social security trust funds pay benefits for who?

A

Elderly, disabled and the widowed

And helps support state unemployment programs

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10
Q

Why have social insurance taxes grown so fast?

A

Baby boomers are about to retire

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11
Q

In 1957 social insurance taxes accounted for-

A

12% of federal revenues now they account for more than a third.

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12
Q

What happens when fed gov wants to burrow money?

A

The Treasury Department sells bonds guaranteeing to pay interest to bind holders

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13
Q

What’s the intragovernmental debt?

A

This debt is what the Treasury owes various social security and other trust funds because the government uses for its general purposes revenue collected from social insurance taxes designated to fund social security and other specific programs

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14
Q

What amount is national debt?

A

$17.5 trillion

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15
Q

____ percent of all federal expenditures go to paying interest in the national debt

A

Six

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16
Q

When the economy is strong the governments competing to burrow money may lead to ___________

A

An increased interest rates

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17
Q

Who holds the majority of the debt?

A

Foreign investors

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18
Q

In bad economic time, when tax revenues decrease, what increases?

A

Deficits

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19
Q

What the limit called of how much federal government can burrow?

A

Debt ceiling

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20
Q

What’s a capital budget?

A

A budget for expenditures on items that will serve for the long turn such as equipments, roads and buildings.

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21
Q

If an airline wants to buy a plane, they issue bonds and these debts do not ______

A

Count against the operating budget

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22
Q

In contrast when the fed gov purchases new jets for the Air Force, these purchases are counted as current expenditures and _______

A

Run up the deficit

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23
Q

Give an example of a tax expenditure?

A

Don’t have to pay as much money in taxes because donated money to charity

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24
Q

The office of management of budget estimated that the total tax expenditures of 2013 will be about ______

A

$1 trillion

An amount equal to more than one third of the total federal receipts

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25
Q

Who reduced a tax cut bill that was passed in July 1981 which reduced the federal tax bills by 25%

A

President Reagan

Also made rich pay less so decreased tax revenue

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26
Q

Massive deficit in 1980s began because of what?

A

The 1981 tax cuts because the government continued to spend while reducing its revenue

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27
Q

In 2001 who lowered tax rates over the next 10 years?

A

George W. Bush

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28
Q

Some claim that cutting taxes is a useful way to what?

A

Limit government expansion or “starve the beasts”

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29
Q

Government grows faster when?

A

Following substantial tax cuts

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30
Q

America has one of the ________ tax burdens

A

Smallest

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31
Q

In 1932 when FDR came to power in the midst of the Great Depression how much was the government spending?

A

A little over $3 billion a year

Today they spend that in a single morning

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32
Q

American governments, national state and local spend an amount equal to one third of the ________

A

GDP

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33
Q

Who found that the public sector expands principally in response to the public’s preferences and changes in economic and social conditions, such as economic downturns, urbanization or pollution, that affect the public’s level of demand for government activity?

A

William Berry and David Lowery

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34
Q

What are two developments associated in government growth of America?

A

The rise of the national security state

The rise of the social service state

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35
Q

Who coined the phrase ‘military-industrial complex’ and what did it characterize?

A

Dwight D. Eisenhower

The close relationship between the military hierarchy and the defense industry that supplies its hardware needs

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36
Q

In 1950s and 1960s _______ received most federal dollars

A

Department of defense because of war and stuff

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37
Q

What are constant dollars

A

Dollars adjusted for inflation

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38
Q

The budget of the DOD now constitutes ______

A

One fifth of all federal expenditures

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39
Q

Stealth bombers-

A

Over $2 billion each

40
Q

The biggest part of the budget belongs to?

A

Income security expenditures

41
Q

Who passed social security act?

A

FDR

42
Q

Who was the first social security check sent to?

A

Ida Fuller of Brattleboro, Vermont— a payment of $22.54 for the month
In 2012 the average check of retired worker was $1,217 a month

43
Q

LBJ’s ________ program helped include _______

A

Great society

Medicare which provides both hospitals and physicians coverage to the elderly

44
Q

About ______ receive payments from social security

A

56 million Americans

45
Q

1940 SS was financed by ___% tax on payrolls now it is financed by ___%

A

3

More than 15

46
Q

Who said “it was going broke fast” about the SS

A

Scholar Paul Light

Congress responded by increasing insurance taxes

47
Q

What’s the largest policy of fed gov?

A

Social security

48
Q

What do liberals and conservatives think about programs like the social security?

A

Liberals favor them to assist individuals

Conservatives see them as a drain

49
Q

“Most of the budget is a product of previous decisions.”

A

Aaron Wildavsky

Caiden

50
Q

Who observed the the budget for NASA was hardly incremental

A

Paul Shulman

51
Q

Who has the constitutional right to add or subtract money from an agency?

A

Congress

52
Q

How much did Medicare cost in 2013 for the year?

A

$1.4 trillion

53
Q

The distribution of the governments budget is a process that start and end with who?

A

With the president and has congress in the middle

54
Q

Who’s definition of politics is “who gets what, when and how.”

A

Harold Lasswell

That’s how public budgets are ^^

55
Q

Why do presidents try to use budgets?

A

To manage their economy and leave their imprint on Congress’s policy agenda

56
Q

Who said “If some superfluity no be given Congress to lop, they will cut into the very flesh of the public necessities”

A

President John Adams

57
Q

When does the budget cycle begin?

A

In the executive branch a full 19 months before the fiscal year begins

58
Q

What was the Budget and Accounting Act?

A

It was passed to reduce the debt after WWI

It required presidents to propose and executive budget to Congress and created the Bureau of the Budget to help them.

59
Q

In the 1970s who reorganized the Bureau of the Budget and what name did he give it?

A

President Nixon

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

60
Q

Who is the director of the OMB?

A

A president appointee requiring senate approval

Which now supervises preparation of the federal budget and advises the president of budgetary matters

61
Q

By law, the president must submit a budget by when?

A

The first Monday in February

Process begins almost a year before

62
Q

By when has the president decided the overall policies and priorities and goals for the budget?

A

Summer

During the fall is when agencies submit estimates

63
Q

Who must authorize all federal appropriations?

A

Congress

64
Q

What is the extreme,y powerful trump card that congress holds in national policymaking:

A

The power of the purse

65
Q

What is an important part on the process of establishing a budget?

A

Setting limits on expenditures on the basis of revenue projections

66
Q

When are both houses expected to agree on a budget resolution?

A

April

67
Q

What are two ways that certain changes can be made in budgetary law?

A

Reconciliation

Authorization bill

68
Q

How long do appropriation bills usually fund a program for?

A

One year and cannot exceed the amount of money authorized for a program
In fact the May appropriate less than authorized

69
Q

When will a continuing resolution be used?

A

If congress is not able to reach an agreement in time

70
Q

Who argues that government grows in democracy because of the equality of suffrage

A

Economists Allan Meltzer and Scott Richard

71
Q

What’s the research development budget at the DoD?

A

$175 billion

72
Q

Who were elected twice because they promised not to spend money?

A

George W Bush

Reagan

73
Q

Democracy may encourage government spending but

A

It does not compel it

74
Q

The most common criticism of gov is that it fails to balance what

A

Budget

75
Q

What is the scope of government

A

Budget

76
Q

One can characterize policy making as what

A

“Politics of scarcity”

77
Q

Budget

A

A policy document allocating burdens (taxes) and benefits (expenditures).

97
Q

Deficit

A

An excess of federal expenditures over federal revenues.

97
Q

Expenditures

A

Government spending. Major areas of federal spending are social services and national defense.

97
Q

Revenues

A

The financial resources of the government. The individual income tax and Social Security tax are two major sources of the federal government’s revenue.

97
Q

Income tax

A

Shares of individual wages and corporate revenues collected by the government. The Sixteenth Amendment explicitly authorized Congress to levy a tax on income.

97
Q

Sixteenth Amendment

A

The constitutional amendment adopted in 1913 that explicitly permitted Congress to levy an income tax.

97
Q

National debt

A

All the money borrowed by the federal government over the years and still outstanding. Today the national debt is about $17.5 trillion.

97
Q

Tax expenditures

A

Revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions allowed by federal tax law.

97
Q

Social Security Act of 1935

A

Created both the Social Security program and a national assistance program for poor families, usually called Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

97
Q

Medicare

A

A program added to the Social Security system in 1965 that provides hospitalization insurance for the elderly and permits older Americans to purchase inexpensive coverage for doctor fees and other medical expenses.

97
Q

Incrementalism

A

A description of the budget process in which the best predictor of this year’s budget is last year’s budget, plus a little bit more (an increment). According to Aaron Wildavsky, “Most of the budget is a product of previous decisions.”

97
Q

Uncontrollable expenditures

A

Expenditures that are determined by how many eligible beneficiaries there are for a program or by previous obligations of the government and that Congress therefore cannot easily control.

97
Q

Entitlements

A

Policies for which Congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients. Social Security benefits are an example.

97
Q

House Ways and Means Committee

A

The House of Representatives committee that, along with the Senate Finance Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole.

97
Q

Senate Finance Committee

A

The Senate committee that, along with the House Ways and Means Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole.

97
Q

Congressional Budget Office

A

Advises Congress on the probable consequences of its decisions, forecasts revenues, and is a counterweight to the president’s Office of Management and Budget.

97
Q

Budget resolution

A

A resolution binding Congress to a total expenditure level, supposedly the bottom line of all federal spending for all programs.

97
Q

Reconciliation

A

A congressional process through which program authorizations are revised to achieve required savings. It usually also includes tax or other revenue adjustments.

97
Q

Authorization bill

A

An act of Congress that establishes, continues, or changes a discretionary government program or an entitlement. It specifies program goals and maximum expenditures for discretionary programs.

97
Q

Appropriations bill

A

An act of Congress that actually funds programs within limits established by authorization bills. Appropriations usually cover one year.

97
Q

Continuing resolutions

A

When Congress cannot reach agreement and pass appropriations bills, these resolutions allow agencies to spend at the level of the previous year.

AP US Government (6 decks)

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