Texas Government Chapter 12: Public Policy in Texas

general sales tax

broadly based taxes collected on the retail price of most items

selective sales tax

Taxes levied on the sale, manufacture, or use of specific items such as liquor, cigarettes, and gasoline; these are also sometimes known as excise taxes

hidden taxes

taxes included in an item's purchase price

gross-receipts tax

a tax on the gross revenues (sales) of certain enterprises

Severance taxes

Taxes on the production of raw materials such as oil and natural gas

ad valorem taxes

Taxes assessed according to the value of real property (land and buildings) and personal property (possessions such as furniture and automobiles)

Tax rates

The amount per unit of taxable item or activity.

Tax base

The object or activity taxed

Broad-based taxes

Taxes paid by a large number of taxpayers

Regulatory taxes

Taxes that reward approved behavior with lower taxation or punish socially undesirable action with a higher tax.

Benefits-received tax

A tax assessed according to the services received by the payers

Ability-to-pay taxes

Taxes apportioned according to taxpayers' financial capacity such as property, sales, and income

Progressive tax rates

Tax rates that increase as income increases; for example, the federal income tax rates.

Regressive tax rates

Tax rates that effectively decline as a person's income increases.

Declining marginal propensity to consume

The tendency, as income increases, for persons to save and invest more, thus spending a smaller percentage of their income on consumer items.

tax shifting

businesses passing taxes to consumers in the form of higher prices

supply-side economics

The theory that taxes on higher-income individuals should be kept low to allow them to save and invest to stimulate the economy

general-obligation bonds

Bonds to be repaid from general revenues, such as those that voters have approved to finance prison construction

Revenue bonds

Bonds to be repaid with revenues from the projects they finance, such as higher education bonds financed by tuition revenue.

Appropriations

The process by which a legislative body legally authorizes a government to spend specific sums of money to provide various programs and services

School accountability

Using measurable standards to hold public schools responsible for their students' performances and teachers' competence.

charter schools

publicly funded, privately managed schools that operate independently from the district system

Community college approach

Higher education policy based on open admissions, maximizing accessibility, and incorporating technical, compensatory, and continuing education among the traditional academic course offerings

Affirmative action

Positive efforts to recruit members of underserved populations such as ethnic minorities, women, and the economically disadvantaged. Sometimes these efforts are limited to recruitment drives among target groups, but such programs have sometimes included ethnicity or genders as part of the admissions criteria.

socialized medicine

Strictly defined, socialized medicine is a health-care system in which the government hires medical practitioners who work at government owned facilities to to directly provide health care, as in Great Britain and in U.S. veterans' and military hospitals. However, the term is often applied to health-care systems in which the government provides health-care insurance (such as Medicare or Medicaid) but benefit payments are made to private health-care providers.

Medicaid

The program to provide medical care for qualified low-income individuals who have enrolled; although administered by the state, this program is largely funded by federal grants-in-aid

Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP)

The program that provides health insurance for low-income children who have been enrolled by their parents; although administered by the state this program is largely funded by federal grants-in-aid

Medicare

The federal program to provide medical insurance for most persons older than 65 years of age

Affordable Care Act

The comprehensive federal health-care reforms designed to expand Medicaid coverage, to limit objectionable insurance company practices, and to make subsidized health insurance available to businesses and individuals through competitive insurance exchanges.

individual mandate

requirement that individuals get health insurance or pay a tax penalty to the federal government

unemployment insurance

The insurance program designed to provide compensation as a partial income replacement for those who have lost their jobs; it is social insurance program financed with taxes paid by employers.

income redistribution

A public policy goal intended to shift income from one class of recipients to another, regardless of whether these programs are designed to benefit lower-, middle-, or upper-income groups

social insurance

Public insurance programs such as social security and unemployment compensation in which eligibility is based on tax premiums paid by the beneficiaries of their employers rather than need alone

Means test

A standard of benefit eligibility based on need.

Mass transit

Transport systems that carry multiple passengers, such as train and bus systems; whether publicly or privately owns, mass transit systems are available to the general public and usually charge a fare.