Govt Ch 14

a policy document allocating burdens (taxes) and benefits (expenditures)

expenditures > revenues

a tax on the portion of money individuals earn (supported by the 16th amendment)

the greater the income the greater the tax rate

all government money borrowed over the years that is still outstanding

requires Congress to balance peacetime federal budgets

a budget for expenditures on items that will serve for long term (ex: roads & buildings

tax break/benefit

revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions on federal tax law

• the national security state
• rise of the social service state

the close relationship between the military hierarchy and the defense industry

Experienced a rise during World War II and a fall after the end of the Cold War.

Experienced a rise during the Great Depression & the introduction of the New Deal. Has not yet experienced a fall.

a bundle of policies extending direct and indirect aid to the elderly, poor, or needy

intended to provide a minimum level of sustenance to older Americans and thus save them from poverty

added to Social Security; provides hospitalization insurance for the elderly and permits older Americans to purchase inexpensive coverage for doctor fees and other health expenses

belief that the best predictor of this years budget is last years buget plus an increment

1/3 of budget follows this theory that government gives a lump sum to agencies to spend over a period of time

expenditures determined by how many eligible beneficiaries there are for a program or by previous obligations of the government

policies for which Congress has obligated itself to pay x level of benefits to y number of recipients

House Ways & Means and the Senate Finance

Congress

designed to reform the congressional budgetary process

• fixed budget calendar
• budget committee in each house
• Congressional Budget office

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

a congressional process through which program authorizations are revised to achieve required savings

an act of Congress that establishes a discretionary government program or an entitlement

funds programs established by authorization bills

laws that allow agencies to spend at the previous years level

mandated max allowable deficit levels for each year until 1993 when the budget was supposed to be in balance

across the board spending cuts

A linear relationship ("big budget, big government")