E.4.2+Describe+major+revenue+and+expenditure+categories+and+their+respective+proportions+of+local,+state,+and+federal+budgets.



Information on Taxes (2012 expected revenue)

 * 33.7% comes from individual income taxes
 * 7.2% from corporate taxes (in the 1960s, 20% or more of the country's revenue came from corporate taxes)
 * Slightly more than 53% will have to be raised by borrowing. Taken from "1040 Talk," //The Valley Advocate//, April 14, 2011, p. 6)

//A People's Guide to the Federal Budget//. National Priorities Project, 2012.
 * According to the National Priorities Project, in 2013, 26.5 cents of your federal tax dollar went to support military spending; 3.5 cents for education.

Lesson plan using PBS's film, //Ten Trillion and Counting// to teach about the federal budget Watch this video, "You and the Federal Budget"

Visualize Your Tax Dollar shows where the federal government spent the money you paid in income taxes during fiscal year 2011.

Budget Hero: Election Edition from the Serious Games Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Two key terms for understanding the Federal Budget: Watch this video on Mandatory vs. Discretionary spending
 * Mandatory Spending: spending set in place by existing laws such as Medicare, food stamps, unemployment and Social Security. Mandatory spending accounts about two-thirds of all federal spending.
 * Discretionary Spending: spending that is requested by the President and decided by Congress during each budget cycle. Military spending accounts for 57% of discretionary spending or $653 billion of $1.15 trillion in the proposed 2013 budget. Education receives 7%, Transportation 7%, Housing and Community 6%, Energy and Environment 4%, and Food and Agriculture 1%.


 * A Cornell University study asked 1,400 Americans if they had ever used a government program and 57% said no, but when specific programs were identified, including Social Security, student loans, mortgage-interest rate tax deductions, welfare, Medicaid and Medicare, 96% said they had used one of those programs.

For an interactive view of the mandatory and discretionary funding, see the National Priorities Project
 * For a review of state and local revenue and expenditures, see IRS page "What is Taxed and Why"

Practical Money Skills for Life from McDonald's presents a budget journal designed to help workers manage their money. The monthly budget assumes the need for a second job if you are an entry-level worker in the food service industry.

This article talks about the struggles of women surviving on the minimum wage

Click here for a lesson plan on mandatory and discretionary spending, the budget, and deficit.



__Local and State Revenue__
 * According to the IRS, 65% of revenue received by local and state governments is from sales and income taxes. Most of the other revenue comes from a smaller set of expenses, such as property taxes, tobacco and liquor taxes, and different licenses.
 * 43% of these taxes go right back into Education and Social Services. A smaller percentage is returned via health care, public safety, transportation, trusts and utilities. This leaves 22% of the revenue going toward "other" sources.
 * Some of the largest providers of local revenue come from superstores, casinos, and hotels that provide immense amounts of sales and property tax returns. These sectors often see ethical concern by local citizens and shopkeepers, who take the brunt of the big business' success.

"Small business is big business" is a Forbes article that explains the 5 challenges that small business must tackle to survive.