1. Question (s) Section My question to Representative Will Guzzardi was how much support he has garnered since he started his campaign. According to Ashworth (2001:3), for anybody’s idea to become imposed upon the people as a new law it must garner enough support to pass both houses and then be signed into law by the governor or the president. My second question was how he measures the success of his campaign. Ashworth (2001:10) argues that the politicians’ problem is to reach agreement with other politicians and policymakers so that some version of what they want to achieve and what others are pursuing can move forward. I based my questions on Ashworth’s reading. I asked my first question based on Representative Guzzardi’s …show more content…
He dedicated his legislative career to improving voter access and education. He helped lead the initiative for online voter registration in Illinois, which was passed by the legislature in 2013. Moreover, he created the online petition to garner support for free tuition at the state schools for Illinois residents. His online petition collected 6000 signatures. Representative Guzzardi’s concerns are the higher education costs (expensive) in the state of Illinois, which some parents cannot afford. Because of budget crisis, parents lose confidence in the Illinois institutions. Based on the current situation, if nothing is done, some struggling institutions might close their doors in the middle of the calendar year. Such struggling institutions include Chicago State University, Western Illinois, North Eastern and Eastern Illinois. He pointed out that parents send 10 times more Illinois students to public institutions in other states than other states come to Illinois because they do not have the system in Illinois that parents can trust. He suggested that as the state they can solve both problems of cost, trust and enthusiasm at the same time by making institutions of higher education tuition free for every student. He proposed three options when they can get money to finance Tuition Free Illinois. Such options include; fair income tax (earn more pay, earn less pay less), …show more content…
Dr. Stewart discussed a variety of actors involved in budgeting who have different and often clashing motivations and goals. Two of such actors include; Chief Executive Officer (the mayor or city manager, the governor, the president) and Legislators. Representative Guzzardi talked about budget crisis in Illinois state. He stated that two things happened in 2015, a new governor of Illinois got elected in 2015 and the state income tax rate went from 5% to 3.75%. In Illinois income tax is the same for everybody (flat tax) unlike other states where people who earn more pay and those who earn less pay less. He pointed out that the new governor told them that he would negotiate with them about raising the money they needed to pay the bills if they use the Turnaround Agenda (how to fix Illinois). Consequently, the state of Illinois experienced budget crisis because the governor and the representatives could not reach the consensus on his proposal of Turnaround Agenda. In both classes I prepared and analyzed budgets for different cities. Furthermore, I played different actors roles and realized some issues that lead to the budget impasse when the legislators and the governor do not agree they did in
The Clearview Township is a suburban community of 25,000 individuals. Bill Harper, the newly appointed manager of the Clearview Township. Mr. Harper had made some very fruitful recommendations: The financing of all future capital improvements in cash during the fiscal year in which the work would be done, would be considered a great idea considering the state of the community’s finances. One thing that may hinder this plan would depend on the form in which the community accepts the increase in taxes. This would and could also result negatively with the community during the next upcoming election. Individuals in a community would not vote for an individual that has raised their taxes and not increases services offered in the community.
A). Mr. Masi replies that the tax rate has stayed the same at 17 cents. We are still the lowest in the state. The tax rate has stayed constant but the revenue has increased dramatically. It is because of the tax increased revenue for us being twenty million dollars positive. The growth helped with this increase. Half of our operating revenue comes from the tax payers, then twenty-two percent from Medicaid, ten percent from Medicare, seven point eight percent from commercial insurance. Add all that up sixty percent uncompensated + twenty-two percent Medicaid +ten percent Medicare+ seven point eight percent commercial to equal hundred percent of our
In Chapter 10 of Lone Star Tarnished, Jillson offers an overview of the development of tax policy in Texas. Identify the major challenges that have developed over the last three decades in terms of state revenue. What are some of the proposed solutions to address these challenges?
“To budget is to fight over money and the things money buys” (Document A). The federal budget is adjusted every year and has to follow certain criteria set forward by the Preamble to the Constitution. The Preamble sets five goals that the budget must fulfill, these goals are: to establish justice, to insure domestic tranquility, to provide for the common defence, to promote the general welfare, and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our prosperity. Furthermore, it is difficult to decide what clusters of the federal budget to allocate money to in order to meet the five goals of the Preamble which are “The Big Five”, “The Middle Five”, and “The Little Guys.” In each of the three budget clusters,
This memo is to serve as description of how the economy can impact projections related to revenues and expenditures in regards to the city budget. Several examples will be provided including explanations on why these items can have a tumultuous effect on the city budget. These examples include the effect property taxes and income taxes had on our fiscal stability as well as how even with proper accounting and financial reporting, the budget still fell victim to the economy.
The author strongly uses sufficient terms, which explains the background and main idea of this piece. His strong opposition of how Rauner runs for governor stands out the clearest. The author emphasizes his point by listing the jobs of an Illinois governor. Here he indirectly states that the governor has many jobs to accomplish and
As taxpayers, people are required to pay imposed taxes and derived taxes. Since payments are not voluntary as opposed to nonprofits, people want to know where the government currently stands, whether it has sufficient revenues for efficiently running current public services, and how much it has improved compared to last year. Examining government-wide financial statements will give readers a basic understanding of the government’s condition. The government-wide financial statements consist two parts: the statement of net position and the statement of activities. Based on the statement of net position, in 2015, the State of California has a deficit of about $41.0 billion. Compared to the past 10 fiscal years, the fiscal year of 2015 has the least amount of total governmental activity net position and total primary government net position. In addition, the unrestricted deficit as a percentage of total assets is -75.64%, which is close to -100%. This number
To maintain the two year balance in budget, the administration will need to cut state spending close to $230. But, the governor can only mandate up to 10% in cuts. Any higher will require a session of the legislature. State were to submit their proposals which will be reviewed by legislative staff, finally, Governor Bullock will decide where the cuts will be made. There could be more than $100 million worth in cuts to the services and payments of Medicaid. Which would be the result in elimination of case management for children’s mental health services, the prescription drug program for the elderly, services to children in foster cares, programs devoted to disabled infants and toddlers, and dental procedures high in payment. In some cases, payments could inherently reduce for some hospitals/clinics, and durable medical equipment and
Guac was a regular man, an average Joe, but was diagnosed with a mental illness, schizophrenia. This was a genetic mental illness that has been passed down for generations, one that caused the people who had it to see and hear people who do not exist. He discovered that most cases of schizophrenia in his family lead to insanity even when taking the antipsychotic Clozapine. They could not overcome mind versus matter. But on one dark gloomy night, when he was walking back home from work; a flea, exposed to toxic chemicals from the nearby nuclear power plant, bit him on the carotid artery. Almost instantaneously Guac transformed! The voices in his head started to tell him who was in danger and needed rescuing. He was filled adrenaline,
State colleges in the United States should be tuition-free for everybody. Everyone deserves a chance to have a higher education than high school. Many other countries in the world already use this method. Germany and Norway both have tuition-free public colleges and it’s working fine for them. Even some states in America use the free community college program. Giving people a chance to go to college tuition-free will help everyone in our country.
As mentioned by Thompson (2010), in the Associated Press, “Lawmakers bridged a $19 billion shortfall, more than 20 percent of the $87.5 billion general fund spending plan”. This shows that the state was heading towards a financial crisis and more deficit creation. Moreover, Thompson (2010), in the Associated Press also points out that “It includes no tax or fee increases but uses a combination of cuts, funding shifts, delayed corporate tax breaks and assumptions about money the state hopes to receive”. The budget gave rise to other dependent costs such as delayed tax refunds. It was uncertain that the State will receive the required funds from the federal government to ensure that the important programs will function the way it used to be until the funds are received.
It’s an idea that pops up every now and then. Every year many young people work hard to pass their school-leaving exams and enter a college. However, for many of them acquiring good marks is not the only worry. Unlike the lucky minority from wealthy families, they must also think about the ways of getting money to pay for their education. For a half century, federal funding has flowed to students in the form of vouchers, and students have had the power to choose from an array of providers--public, private, and for-profit. Making education free can stretch from an array of getting rid of student debts/loans to decreasing the amount of unqualified jobs with the help of President Obama 's idea of making community colleges "free." The government claims that free education is impossible, as there is no possibility to subsidize the universities and colleges with the budget funds. Moreover, when education is fully supported financially by the state, colleges lose their independence and the spirit of democracy and freedom. .
Taxes are an inevitable necessary part of life. While most of us become stressed out and suffer financially from taxes, it is a known fact that we enjoy many of the benefits of the process of taxation. To look at it from a positive point of view, we must remember a few important parts of our lives that are made possible from taxes. These include new highway construction and repairs, the building and maintenance of public parks and facilities, our law enforcement agencies, emergency services, and much of the health care system; all courtesy of taxes. This assignment will discuss the government’s need to raise and lower taxes and the outcome it has on the GDP and net personal income and other key factors that play part in the
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) budget criteria framework covers 27 budgeting categories and was launched in 1984 to encourage the preparation of high quality budgets (Bland, 211). The following memo evaluates the budget of the City of Lake Oswego using GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Criteria, and also compares it to the budget of the City of Detroit.
The major task that the country is facing today is that every state desires to ensure that their populace of students have the levels of schooling to meet their certain profession requirements, but scholars who decide to relocate to another university are held back by an average of 2 years due to the college courses not being accepted due to the educational level from the previous college. With students wanting to transfer, the students are becoming more frustrated with their courses not transferring and triggering them to repeat the courses over and amass additional credits toward their degree. There needs to be a strategy designed to subsidize the student rather than the institution. All university’s need to make an arrangement for college-transfer students to be more effective; such as sinking the time and rate required for transfer students to receive a bachelor’s degree, providing a petite, clearer track to a bachelor’s degree for transfer students and saving the states currency by restricted extra credit hours occupied by the students.