8. It cost only a billion dollars a year to run the government before the war. Interest on the debt now amounts to nearly another billion. But the government is spending about four billions. Why is this? Now that the war is over, why is it not possible (apart from interest on the war debt) to get back to the old scale of expenditures?
9. What are the chief defects in our present system of raising public revenues? What improvements can you suggest? Would you favor a sales tax? Do you believe that Congress was unwise in abolishing the tax on excess profits?
10. Enumerate all the different forms of taxation that any one man may have to pay in the United States at the present day.
11. How is the budget prepared and passed in your state? Compare the relative influence of the governor with that of the legislature in determining what the state government spends.
12. Explain treasury notes; refunding; debt limit; surtaxes; net debt; progressive taxation; sinking fund; serial bonds; special assessments.
13. Two cities of about the same size may have approximately equal amounts of net debt yet one may be in a much better financial position than the other. Account for this.
14. When Chief Justice Marshall said: “The power to tax involves the power to destroy”, what did he mean? Should the power to tax be used to secure a more nearly equal distribution of wealth and net annual incomes among the people?
Topics for Debate
1. The salaries of government officials should be taxed like the incomes of private individuals.
2. No man’s income should be twice taxed (once by the nation and once by the state).