Government Budget Process & Planning

1. Government Budget Process & Planning Nick Cates Zander Peter Mitchell Gornto

2. What is a Budget? • A budget is an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. • A budget is important because it can cause a nation to flourish or go into debt. • In order to thrive in the economy, the budget must be balanced. • The government is responsible for managing the nation’s income and expenditures.

3. Revenue • Revenue is the income of a government from taxation, excise duties, customs, or other sources, appropriated to the payment of the public expenses. • Revenue is important because without it, the country would become broke. • Revenue must be greater than or equal to the expenditures in order to maintain a balanced budget.

4. Expenditures • Expenditures are funds that are being spent. • If the expenditures are too great, a country will go into debt. • The U.S. spends money on things like research, assistance programs, and the military. All of these things are important in maintaining a strong country. • The U.S. is currently in debt because our expenditures are greater than our revenue.

5. Appropriations Bill • A legislative act proposing to authorize the expenditure of public funds for a specified purpose. • This is what allows the government to spend public funds on certain things.

6. Mandatory Spending • Spending that is automatically obligated due to previously-enacted laws. • This spending is basically required by law. • An example of mandatory spending would be entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

7. Discretionary Spending • US government expenditures that are set on a yearly basis. • This type of spending can be changed from year to year. • It is all at the discretion of the government. • An example of discretionary spending would be education because the budget can change.

8. Entitlement Programs • Entitlement programs are setup to help the American public. They include things like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. • Citizen tax dollars are used to pay for these programs. • Entitlement programs are in place to help citizens who need some assistance.

9. Deficit • Deficit is the act of spending more money than you are bringing in. • The deficit can cause a country to have a high national debt. • The government would prefer to have a low deficit because it makes it easier to control the national debt.

10. National Debt • The national debt is the total amount of money that a country's government has borrowed, by various means. • This is the result of a high deficit. • The U.S. national debt is currently about $12,240,620,500,999. • This is inaccurate because it increases by the second.

11. Surplus • A surplus is the opposite of debt. • This happens when the revenue is higher than deficit.

12. Taxes

13. Progressive Tax • With a progressive tax, the tax rate increases as the taxable base amount increases. • Income tax is an example of progressive tax. • Higher income families have to pay a higher tax rate than families who are in a lower economic class.

14. Regressive Tax • This is where the tax rate decreases as the amount subject to taxation increases. • Cigarettes are an example of an item that carries a regressive tax. • Regressive taxes tend to hurt lower income families more severely.

15. Proportional Tax • This is when everybody is paying the same tax rate. • Each person may be paying different dollar amounts but it is the same tax rate for everybody. • Sales taxes can be considered proportional because everybody will be paying the same rate.

16. Video • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivv11Y0I2jU

17. Current Event • http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/05/americas-taxes-are-the-most-progressive-in-the-world-its-government-is-among-the-least/

18. Works Cited • http://www.government.nl/issues/budget/budget-process • http://bankruptcy-temecula.com/bankruptcy/2012/01/24/bankruptcy-and-tax-refunds/ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivv11Y0I2jU • http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/13332-facts-that-demand-tax-reform • http://blog.mason23.com/bid/110647/National-Debt-vs-Deficit-We-need-better-communications • http://www.american.com/archive/2008/october-10-08/america-has-a-highly-progressive-tax-system • http://www.justfacts.com/nationaldebt.asp • http://www.fedupusa.org/2012/10/the-source-of-high-inflation-government-spending/ • http://www.best-practice.com/compliance-best-practices/government-budgets/government-budget-government-budgets-compliance-best-practices/ • http://budget.house.gov/budgetprocess/ • http://nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/federal-budget-process/ • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/federal-budget-process/budgetprocess.pdf • http://www.arizonaeducationnetwork.com/2009/07/brbs-what-are-they-budget-reconciliation-bill/ • http://thoughtfulwomen.org/2012/08/17/2012-election-is-a-tipping-point-on-mandatory-spending/ • http://www.harris4kids.com/?page_id=17 • http://www.flashissue.com/blog/how-to-make-money-with-content-marketing/