Instruction and Activity:
Instruction:
The Illinois State Constitution requires that each unit of local government
keep an accounting of what happens to the public funds that it is entrusted
to oversee. Each unit of government must create an annual budget of
how it plans to spend public money at the beginning of the fiscal year,
and must account for how it spent the public's money at the end of the
fiscal year. (The fiscal year may or may not run on the same calendar
year.)
The budgeting process can be difficult at every level of government.
Our public officials are charged with taking a set amount of money,
raised by taxes and fees, and stretching it among many worthy causes
and projects. Often, the public and different governmental departments
have different points of view with how money is allocated during the
budgeting process.
Ask students:
I. What do you see as the essential functions of government?
II. Is government supposed to be involved in helping people?
III. Is government supposed to have a hands-off approach?
Activity:
Attached please find the Budget Game handout.
Distribute this handout to your class.
1. Your state has a predicted $8 billion gap between tax revenue (income)
and expenditures for the next year. For example, expenditures are projected
to be $100 billion, but you only have $92 billion available in tax revenue.
2. Your state already has a deficit of $2 billion (This is debt that
has been carried over from last year, and it must be accounted for in
your calculations. In this example, you would really only have $90 billion
available because you already subtracted $2 billion.).
3. You are the public officials in charge of passing a budget. Review
current spending, and find how $10 billion can be cut from the budget.
The decisions are difficult, but this is your job as an elected public
official.
$$ THE BUDGET GAME $$
CHALLENGE:
DRAFT A COMPREHENSIVE BUDGET THAT GETS YOUR STATE OUT OF DEBT FOR THE
NEXT YEAR.
FACTS:
1. A $8 billion gap between expenditures and tax revenue is predicted
for next year.
2. Your state already has a deficit of $2 billion (debt that carries
over from the previous years)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. In small groups, evaluate the current expenditures in the state
programs and agencies and decide what you may want to cut. Making up
the debts 100% may be unrealistic, but try to get close to a balanced
budget as possible. Specify what areas you would cut under the general
categories. Be creative in thinking about what other specific areas
in a category may be cut or run more efficiently.
2. State employee pension payments may not be cut.
3. Evaluate the current taxes and decide which, if any, kinds of taxes
you may want to increase.
4. Answer the questions below after completing the budget.
QUESTIONS:
1. How did you decide where to make cuts and where to raise taxes?
2. Were the decisions hard to make? Why or why not?
3. What objections do you think another lawmaker might have to your
plan?
4. How do you think the citizens of the state would react to your plan?
5. Do you think citizens should be involved in budget decision-making?
What should they do to get their input heard?
6. After students have completed the budget, have them take the budget
to 2 adults and ask them what they would cut or increase taxes on.
STATE BUDGET
| PROGRAM OR AGENCY |
CURRENT SPENDING |
PROPOSED CUTS |
| Education (K-12) |
$15B |
|
| Public Universities |
$2.5B |
|
| Early Childhood Grants (at risk youth) |
$50 Million (.05B) |
|
| Public Safety (state police, crime prevention programs)
|
$8B |
|
| Homeland Security (terrorism, emergency management)
|
$3B |
|
| Healthcare (healthcare for low income residents, prescription
discounts, free cancer screenings, state mental hospitals) |
$10B |
|
| Human Services (home services for the disabled, low
income childcare) |
$2.5B |
|
| Corrections (prisons) |
$4B |
|
| Job Development/Training Programs |
$1B |
|
| Facilities Management (state buildings) |
$2B |
|
| Environmental Protection (incentives for businesses
not to pollute, state funds for the EPA) |
$1B |
|
| State Employee Salaries (includes teachers, public
officials, anyone who works for Illinois) |
$3.5B |
|
| Transportation (state vehicles, road building /repair,
snow removal) |
$2B |
|
| Employee pension fund (can't cut) |
$1.5B |
|
| Technology Improvements |
$2.5B |
|
| TOTALS |
|
|
|
TAX INCREASES
|
CURRENT REVENUE |
PROPOSED ADDED REVENUE |
| Income Tax |
$25B |
|
| Sales Tax |
$15.3B |
|
| Utility Tax |
$2B |
|
| Lottery and Riverboats |
$1.5B |
|
| Motor Fuel Tax |
$1B |
|
| Liquor Tax |
$.25B |
|
| Cigarette Tax |
$.20B |
|
| Inheritance Tax |
$1.3B |
|
| License Fees |
$4B |
|
| TOTALS |
|
|
For a visual representation of your budget reform, create pie graphs
to illustrate the changes in spending and revenues between the old budget
and your revised version.
©Copyright 2003 Citizen Advocacy Center. All rights reserved. No part
of this lesson plan may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the prior, written permission of the Citizen Advocacy Center.
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