Domestic Policy

Vocabulary

  • Sin tax

    • A tax on items considered undesirable or harmful, such as alcohol or tobacco 

    • This is a form of excise tax 

  • Regressive tax

    • A tax for which high income taxpayers pay a smaller fraction of their income than do low income taxpayers 

  • Progressive tax 

    • A tax for which high income taxpayers pay a larger fraction of their income than do low income taxpayers 

  • Luxury tax

    • A sales tax or surcharge levied only on certain products or services that are deemed non-essential or accessible only to the super wealthy 

    • The U.S. has a 10% luxury tax usually imposed on items such as jewelry, furs, automobiles, boats, and aircraft 

  • Excise tax 

    • Tax on manufacture or sale of certain items

    • Taxes on specific goods like gasoline, oil, cigarettes, and alcoholic beverages, healthcare 

    • Also telephone services, tires, legal betting, and coal

    • Tax is often included in the price of the product 

    • Vary from state to state 

  • FICA - Federal Insurance Contributions Act (1935) 

    • Designed to provide support for retirees who qualify for benefits 

    • The current tax rate for 2024 Social Security is 6.2% for the employer and 6.2% for the employee, or 12.4% total. The current rate for Medicare is 1.45% for the employer and 1.45% for the employee, or 2.9% total 

    • Only the social security tax has a wage base limit. The wage base limit is the maximum wage that’s subject to the tax for that year. For the earnings in 2024, this base is $168,600

  • Reserve requirement 

    • This refers to the amount of cash that banks must hold in reserve against deposits made by their customers 

    • This ensures that the bank is able to meet liabilities in case of sudden withdraws 

  • Monetary policy 

    • Conducted by the Federal Open Market Committee 

    • Monetary policy is the setting of the money supply by policymakers in the central bank 

    • The money supply refers to the quantity of money available in the economy 

  • Fiscal policy 

    • The use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy 

    • Typically used to promote strong and sustainable growth and reduce poverty 

  • FICA tax 

    • Tax rate stated above*

    • While the FICA tax is paid by most workers, the tax doesn’t apply to all paychecks such as…

      • Children under the age of 18 employed by their parents 

      • Qualified retirement plan contributions from employers 

      • Service performed by students employed by a school, college, or university 

      • Some church and qualified church-controlled organization wages 

      • Some state and local government salaries 

  • Medicare

    • health care for the elderly (over 65)

  • Medicaid

    • provides health coverage to low income adults, children, pregnant, and elderly adults ect. 

  • Estate tax 

    • Tax on the transfer of property when a person dies

  • Gift tax 

    • Tax on donations of money or wealth and is paid by the person who makes the gift 

    • Meant to help avoid people giving away all their wealth before they die 

  • Income tax 

    • A type of tax the government imposes on income generated by businesses and individuals within their jurisdiction 

    • The largest source of revenue for the federal government 

    • Higher income families pay a larger percent of their income in taxes 

  • GDP 

    • Gross Domestic Product is the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders during a specified time period, usually a year

  • Social security

    • A government system designed to provide retirement income for almost every American worker 

  • Corporate income tax 

    • A direct tax levied on the income or capital of corporations and other similar legal entities 

    • It’s a tax levied on corporations profits, collected by the government as a source of income 

  • Intergovernmental revenue

    • All revenues from federal, state, and other local government sources 

    • These funds came in the form of grants, shared revenues, and payments in the lieu of taxes 

  • Property tax 

    • The tax that is imposed on immovable property like land and buildings, as well as on moveable property, like vehicles and equipment 

  • Marginal tax rate 

    • The tax rate applied to each additional dollar of income 

    • Since marginal tax rate looks at the additional cost of paying an extra dollar of tax, it determines the deadweight loss of an income tax 

  • Payroll taxes

    • Tax on the wages that a firm pays its workers 

    • Social insurance taxes: taxes on wages that is earmarked to pay for social security and Medicare 

  • Custom duties 

    • Tax on goods brought into the country from another country 

    • Custom duty rate is a tariff or tax imposed on goods when transported across international borders (it’s a percentage)

    • This purpose is to protect each country’s economy, residents, jobs, environment by controlling the flow of goods, especially restrictive and prohibited goods, in and out of the country 

  • User fees

    • A charge (not a tax) imposed by the government for the primary purpose of covering the cost of providing a service 

  • Budget surplus 

    • An excess of government receipts over government spending 

  • Budget deficit 

    • An excess of government spending over government receipts 

  • Deadweight loss 

    • Because taxes distort incentives, they entail deadweight losses

    • The deadweight loss of the tax is the reduction of the economic well-being of taxpayers in excess of the amount of revenue raised by the government  

  • Vertical equity 

    • The idea that taxpayers with a greater ability to pay taxes should pay larger amounts

    • For example, people with higher incomes should pay more than people with lower incomes 

  • Horizontal equity 

    • The idea that taxpayers with similar abilities to pay taxes should pay the same amounts 

    • For example, two families with the same number of dependents and the same income living in different parts of the country should pay the same federal taxes 

  • Intermediate goods

    • A product used to produce a final good or finished products - also referred to as a consumer good 

    • For example, the flour used when baking a cake 

  • Final good 

    • A final good or consumer good is a final product that is ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs 

    • Example the cake sold at a bakery 

  • Real GDP 

    • Real GDP is a macroeconomic statistic that measures the value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a specific period, adjusted for price changes

  • Nominal GDP

    • the market value of the final production of goods and services within a country in a given period using that year's prices

Why does the government tax?

Funding public services, promoting economic stability, ensuring social equity, supporting national defense, and fostering civic responsibility. Taxes are used to fund a variety of good and programs to better the American people. 

What are the 3 categories that make up our Tax criteria?

  • Efficiency: a fair tax should not inhibit productive activities. It should not discourage people from working or investing in new business. It should not favor less productive business over more productive business. 

  • Equity (Ability to pay principle): a fair tax should equally tax individuals with equal ability to pay. People with different amounts of wealth or income should pay different amounts of taxes. 

  • Simplicity: a fair tax should be simple. Increased complexity encourages people to make mistakes, promotes cheating, and builds resentment. 

Explain the ability to pay principle

  • The idea that taxes should be levied on a person according to how well that person can shoulder the burden. The ability to pay principal leads to two corollary notions of equity: vertical equity and horizontal equity. 

Describe the structure of the Federal Reserve. How many reserve banks are there? 

The Fed serves as the nation’s central bank system. It is designed to oversee the banking system and it regulates the quantity of money in the economy. 

Structure: there are 3 main elements of the fed

  1. The Board of Governors 

    1. Seven members who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate 

    2. Served staggered 14 year terms so that one come vacant every two years 

    3. The president appoints a member as chairman to serve a 4 year term: the chairman directs the Fed staff, presides over board meetings, and testifies about fed policy in front of congressional committees 

  2. The Regional Federal Reserve Banks (there are 12) 

  3. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)

    1. Serves as the main policy-making organ of the Federal Reserve System 

    2. They meet approximately every 6 weeks to review the economy

    3. FOMC is made up of the chair man and the other 6 members of the board of governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the presidents of the other regional Federal Reserve Banks  

 

When was the FED created?

  • The Fed was created in 1913 after a series of bank failures convinced Congress that the United States needed a central bank to ensure the health of the nations banking system 

What are the 3 tools the FED uses to control monetary policy?  Briefly explain what happens to the money supply when the FED uses these tools

  1. Open Market Operations 

    1. Primary way the fed changes the money supply 

    2. the fed purchases and sells government bonds 

    3. to increase the money supply, the Fed buys government bonds from the public 

    4. to decrease the money supply, the Fed sells government bonds to the public 

  2. Reserve Requirement 

    1. reserves are deposits that the bank have received but have not loaned