PA 375 Midterm 1 Review

1.

1 point

Which of the following taxes most reflects the benefits principle of taxation?

Sales tax

Motor fuel tax

Personal income tax

Corporate income tax

2.

1 point

Imagine a city that takes great pains to try to avoid wasteful spending. It gathers data on its performance outputs and then figures out how much it is costing per unit of output. Which value does this best reflect?

Efficiency

Equity

Effectiveness

Responsiveness

3.

1 point

What is the most common tax base for a local government?

4.

1 point

The real property tax tends to be ________ in nature because it is not necessarily linked to a person's ability to pay.

5.

1 point

Which of the following decision clusters deals with carrying out the budget, and may ask questions such as these: How close should actual expenditures be to the ones planned in the budget? How can one justify variation from the budget plan? Can the budget be remade after it is approved during the budget year?

The budget process

Budget implementation

The balance cluster

The revenue cluster

6.

1 point

_______ is concerned with whether or not the organization is actually listening to the public it is serving.

Accountability

Equity

Responsiveness

Transparency

7.

1 point

Which of the following was NOT discussed as a way that competition is kept mostly under control during the budgeting process?

Budget choices must be made according to accepted rules and procedures.

The public and political leaders accept the fact that choices must be made. There will be "winners" and "losers."

Transparency can help regulation, but cannot replace it.

A general understanding that this year's "loser" could come out a "winner" in the next budget cycle.

8.

1 point

Which of the following clusters deals with how to make budget decisions, and may ask questions such as these: Who should be involved? How should work be divided? When should decisions be made?

The balance cluster

The budget process

The expenditure cluster

The revenue cluster

Budget implementation

9.

1 point

Which of the following is NOT one of the positive aspects about user fees?

Prevents the general fund from subsidizing services that exclusively benefit individuals.

User fees operate on the basis of the benefits principle.

Can operate in a way so as to decrease use of scarce resources, like water.

User fees are regressive in nature.

10.

1 point

The _____ tax rate differs from the nominal tax rate in that the former is taken in comparison with the taxpayer's ability to pay.

sales

efficient

effective

property

11.

1 point

When a tax is levied on a business, sometimes the business will raise the price of the good or service they provide, resulting in a higher price paid by the customer. This is an example of a _______ (two words).

12.

1 point

During which phase of the property tax cycle are tax bills prepared and sent to the property owners or recorded, as well as any efforts to identify and gather delinquent taxes?

Appraisal

Assessment

Certification

Collection

13.

1 point

Taxes, charges, and fees are examples of ______ (two words) revenues.

14.

1 point

Collectability is a criteria to consider when evaluating a revenue system. This includes looking at the cost of administering the tax by the government, as well as the cost of ________ by the taxpayer.

15.

1 point

The federal income tax is taxpayer active.

True

False

16.

1 point

Type of Home Rule: Power to change form of government without legislative approval.

17.

1 point

What are the two least popular taxes?

state sales & local property

federal income & state sales

federal income & local property

18.

1 point

Large financing tasks are better handled by ______ tax bases.

Large

Medium

Small

19.

1 point

The income ______ of a tax base is reflected as a coefficient that measures the increase in a revenue base that results from a 1% increase in economic activity.

Elasticity

Equity

Responsiveness

Economy

20.

1 point

_______ is a value that deals mainly with outcomes, as in the organization's ability to achieve its goals and purposes.

Effectiveness

Economy

Expertise

Efficiency

21.

1 point

Under ______ Rule, the local government has greater flexibility to act and perform functions not specifically prohibited by the state.

22.

1 point

A type of federal grant in which the purpose of the funds is tied specifically to a particular project or program, such as repairing a roadway or providing Head Start early education.

General support

Intergovernmental revenues

Categorical grant

Block grant

23.

1 point

When we discuss notions of justice and due process in terms of budgeting, we are generally talking about which value?

Responsiveness

Effectiveness

Transparency

Equity

24.

1 point

For tax purposes, property appraisal is based on an estimate of the property's _______ value.

Lowest

Taxable

Local

Block

Market

25.

1 point

Intergovernmental revenues are a type of ______ (two words) revenue.

26.

1 point

A tax should _____ economic activity as little as possible.

stimulate

promote

distort

encourage

27.

1 point

Type of Home Rule: Power to provide new services without legislative approval.

28.

1 point

In terms of the values of public budgeting, _____ means answering to someone for something.

29.

1 point

______ equity demands that taxpayers of equal affluence (i.e. ability to pay) should pay equal tax.

30.

1 point

Local taxes on land and any improvements on that land:

Circuit breaker

Real property tax

Personal property tax

Homestead exemption

Deferral

31.

1 point

The local property tax is taxpayer active.

True

False

32.

1 point

The chief policy instrument; a vital planning and management tool; the way we make decisions about shared resources.

33.

1 point

Sometimes a business will give a lower return to the owners of the business in response to the tax. This is an example of ______.

34.

1 point

The federal fiscal year is:

July 1 - June 30

Jan. 1 - Dec. 31

Oct. 1 - Sept. 30

35.

1 point

Which of the following is not an example of positive or socially-desirable alteration of private behavior as a result of a tax?

A child tax credit

Tax deductions to encourage retirement savings

Tax benefits for marriage

Lower tax rates on cigarettes to reduce social stigma

36.

1 point

A tax is ______ if the intended redistributional effect is from those with more affluence to those with less affluence. An example might include the income tax, where those who earn more are taxed at higher rates.

Progressive

Proportional

Horizontally equitable

Regressive

37.

1 point

Type of Home Rule: Power to impose tax rates, levy diverse revenue types, issue debt, establish fees for service.

38.

1 point

Irene Rubin describes the _______ cluster of budgeting decisions as dealing with questions about "who will benefit from public programs and who will not, where and how cuts will be made, and whose interests will be protected."

39.

1 point

A type of federal grant that tends to offer more flexibility for the recipient by specifying only generally how the money is to be spent.

40.

1 point

One way of making the property tax more equitable by limiting taxes applied to certain categories of people, such as the poor or elderly, is called a ______.

property assessment

user fee

personal property tax

circuit breaker

41.

1 point

Which of the following is least sensitive to economic cycles?

Real property tax

General sales tax

Corporate profits

Personal income tax

42.

1 point

What is the most common tax base for the Federal government?

43.

1 point

When the government sells certain privileges to individuals and businesses, such as the right to hunt, construct a building, operate a business, or be certified to practice certain professional trades, the revenues from this type of fee are also known as a ______ tax.

44.

1 point

Research suggests that a proposed tax increase is more likely to occur:

In the last year of a governor's term of office, as he/she is getting ready to run for re-election.

In the first year of a governor's term, with re-election relatively far into the future.

When a governor is not eligible for re-election.

All of the above.

None of the above.

A & B

B & C

A & C

45.

1 point

What is the most common tax base for a state government?