I do not know whether all the offices which we now have are needed, or whether some matters could be done more economically, but we need the Courts of Justice and their officials. The title to my property is recorded and protected by county officials. For this, and many other things, I pay $6.20 per year. There is a large item for charities and corrections, amounting to $6.19 a year. For this amount the county is taking charge of hundreds of unfortunates, for any one of whom a person more heartless than I would subscribe an amount as large as the total contributed to the county. The schools are a big item-taken all together, the largest item on the tax list. I pay $9.20 a year for high schools in Alameda County and Oakland, $11.40 for elementry schools, $1.20 for kindergartens, and $6.40 for school buildings. Therefore, my total taxes for schools are $28.20. I understand, however, that good high-school education costs $100.00 or more per pupil per year. Private schools charge more. I understand that elementary education costs $50.00 per year per pupil. I have a child in high school whom I desire to have educated, and whom the community desires to have trained for American citizenship. The community spends more on his education than the total of my county taxes and city taxes. The cost of two children in elementary school is greater than my total annual taxes. Hence, I am unable to locate any item on which I feel sure that I am expending too much. All I can ask is that we get full service out of every dollar. An Oakland Taxpayer BUDGET STATEMENT NO. 1 Balanced statement of (1) the condition of the Treasury at the end of the fiscal years 1924 and 1923: (2) the estimated condition of the Treasury at the end of the fiscal year in progress, 1925: and (3) the estimated condition of the Treasury at the end of the ensuing fiscal year, 1926, if the financial proposals contained in the Budget are adopted 1 On basis of daily Treasury statement, June 30, 1924. 2 Includes expenditures made by other departments and establishments for veterans' relief from Veterans' Bureau appropriation. A PAGE FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S BUDGET TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION 1. What protection does your community have against fire? Do you have a volunteer fire organization, or are the firemen paid by the city? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a volunteer fire organization? If your fire department is inefficient, in what way will the property owners directly pay for this inefficiency? 2. A few years ago it was customary to require all able-bodied men over twenty-one years of age to work on the roads one or two days a year, but now it is more customary to require that road taxes be paid in money. Why was the change made? Which system does your community use? Which system is more likely to be efficient? Why? 3. To how many different governments does your father pay taxes? To which does he pay the most? What services does this government give him in return for the taxes he pays? 4. Would a farming community be apt to favor an income tax? the general property tax? Why? 5. Secure a list of the various licenses required by your local government. Can you explain in each case why the license is required? 6. What is a consumption tax? Name the articles usually taxed under consumption taxes. Why are stamps used with this tax? 7. Why do governments not raise all the money they need by taxation rather than by borrowing? 8. When is borrowing justifiable? 9. In what way would a community suffer that failed to pay taxes for the support of street cleaners? hospitals? good roads? 10. Make a list of the things for which your community is taxed. In what way are you personally benefited by the payment of taxes? 11. Under the Articles of Confederation what authority had Congress in the matter of taxation? 12. Who are the tax assessors in your community? Are they appointed or elected? Do they receive a salary for their work? 13. What is the difference between the real value of property and its assessed value? Upon which are people taxed? 14. Unlike the United States, Great Britain can tax exports. What advantage is this to the British Government? what disadvantage? 15. Make a list of the different taxes and sources of revenue used in the United States as a whole. 16. Give an illustration of a direct tax; an indirect tax. Which of these two are the people more apt to complain about? Why? 17. What are the advantages of a protective tariff? the disadvantages? Debate this question. 18. Why do people often prefer to invest their money in government bonds-municipal, state, and federal? 19. In what way are you dependent upon your neighbor for: Education? health? protection of life and property? SUGGESTED READINGS FOR COMMITTEE REPORTS 1. Any standard American history will tell the story of the failure of the Colonies to support financially the government of the Second Continental Congress, and its effect on Washington's armies. Financial support was also denied the central government during the "critical" period (1783-87). Both of these topics will make interesting reports. 2. A study should be made of the different forms of taxation and of the powers of Congress and of the state legislatures in the matter of taxation. Magruder's American Government, Chapter XXVII, explains this. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS AND TEACHERS 1. Ely and Wicker's Elementary Principles of Economics: Book IV, Chapters I and II. 2. Williamson's Introduction to Economics: Chapter XXXII. 3. Beard and Beard's American Citizenship: Chapters XIV and XV. 4. Moulton's Money and Banking. CHAPTER XXIII THE AMERICAN PEOPLE "Every noble life leaves the fibre of it interwoven forever in the work of the world." -ALL OTHERS HEBREW FRENCH -Ruskin Where were your father and mother born? Possibly some of the pupils in your class are proud to trace their ancestry back to the "Mayflower" or to the "Welcome."1 The parents of others were born in England, Ireland, Germany, or Italy. A list of the people represented would probably show a considerable variety of origins. Each of these races has had its own inheritance; for example, we expect from the Italian GERMAN a love of good music that comes from long acquaintance with the best music of the world. Similarly every race has its inheritance of some IRISH DUTCH SCOTCH peculiar ability or some PROPORTION ENGLISH OF TOTAL POPULATION decided tendency. The FORMED BY EACH NATIONALITY, 1790 meeting of representatives of all these different peoples in our American communities, their interchange of ideas and ideals, and frequently their intermarriage, have produced the American people. The child of Anglo-Saxon parentage of the time of William the Conqueror probably had about the same mental talents 1 Name of the ship on which William Penn sailed from Deal, England, in 1682. |