Raising Money for Government Services

Overview

This lesson describes the various taxes that U.S. citizens pay and explains how taxes transfer the use of resources from the private sector to the government. Students will evaluate how money is raised to pay for government services.

Grade Levels

9 – 12

Objectives

Students will:

• Describe why governments need revenue to provide goods and services.
• Explain how the federal, state, and local governments garner revenue to pay for expenses, and to which programs spending is applied.

Estimated Time

2 days

Materials Needed

• E-Learning Module: Federal Budget Allocation
• Internet connection
• Overhead projection device
• Chalk and chalkboard or an overhead projector

Procedure

Day 1

1. Briefly review the term budget. Use an overhead projection device to show students the Introduction and Family Budget sections of the Federal Budget Allocation Activity.
2. As a class, generate a list of federal, state, and local expenditures. Students may say that the federal government needs revenue for defense, housing and urban development, Social Security, and Medicare. State governments need money for public utilities, education, or state parks. Local governments need money for police and fire departments.
3. Discuss how each level of government generates revenue to pay for its expenses. Make sure that students understand that federal government receives most of its revenue from income tax. State and local governments raise money through sales tax, income taxes, and property taxes. Have students define sales tax, income tax, and property taxes.
4. Use a computer projection device to show students the Tax Revenue by Percentage chart from the Congressional Budgets section of the Federal Budget Allocation Activity. Discuss each type of tax.
5. Divide the class into three groups. Assign each group to research the local county, state, or federal budget. Have each group create a list of what they think should be the five most important spending categories for the level of government they have been assigned.
6. Tell each group to go online or use print and newspaper resources to find the main revenue and expense categories in a recent county, state, or federal budget. Each group should compare the actual expense categories with the categories in the list it created.

Day 2

1. Allow each group to present its findings. Each group should share the list of what its members think are the most important spending categories, explain how much revenue the government receives, and describe how the revenue was distributed among the spending categories. Each group should also discuss how the actual spending compared with the list it created.
2. Once all the groups have presented their findings, discuss the similarities and differences among local, state, and federal budgets.

Extension Activity

Have each group conduct a survey and find out what members of the local community think are spending priorities for the county, state, or country.

Assessment

Basic Concepts and Processes

Ask your students to respond to the following requests for information and assess their knowledge of key concepts taught in this lesson.

1. Describe why governments need revenue to provide goods and services.
2. Explain how the federal, state, and local governments garner revenue to pay for expenses.
3. Identify at least five spending categories for the county, state, and federal governments.

Scoring Guide for Presentations about County, State, and Federal Budgets

Elements	Possible Score	Assigned Score	Notes
Speaks clearly.	10
Shares list of five most important spending categories.	10
Explains how much revenue the Government received.	20
Describes the major expense categories of the government, and explains how much funding each category received.	40
Compares the actual expense categories with the categories in the list created.	20

 

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