Letter-size paper. The PDF is ready to print; the web pages below contain the same selected tasks. Turn off browser headers and footers when printing this page.
CLSM · Civic Literacy · Progress Check 4
Government Revenue & Spending
Read the situation. Connect the ideas. Show how you know.
Name ___________________________Class __________ Date __________
01 Recall, then make a connection.
revenue
appropriation
opportunity cost
Explain why revenue is different from an appropriation. When a government chooses one feasible project over another, how does opportunity cost help explain the decision?
Read the situation.
Government revenue and spending connect public priorities to real trade-offs. Taxes, fees, and grants can support services, but they are not interchangeable sources with identical conditions or future availability. Borrowing also differs from tax revenue because it creates a repayment obligation. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress taxing and spending-related powers, while North Carolina’s Constitution contains requirements concerning taxation and public purposes. A budget should be examined through both its numbers and its authority.
02 Organize the information.
Choose the public project mix
The council has 100 budget units; each unit equals $1,000. Water repairs and evening transit are required in this exercise. Choose at least 10 fictional priority points. The points represent the supplied council’s priorities, not measured benefits or a universal best policy.
Build a feasible plan within 100 units.
Budget: 100. Reach at least 10 model benefit. Include at least one of each: Water-system repairs; Evening transit access.
Option
Cost each
Benefit each
Maximum
Quantity
Water-system repairs
30
4
1
Evening transit access
25
4
1
Public learning-lab equipment
30
3
1
Park improvements
35
2
1
Total cost: __________ Total model benefit: __________
Explain one tradeoff in the plan.
CLSM · Civic Literacy · Progress Check 4
What does the evidence show?
Government Revenue & Spending
03 Follow the evidence.
Mechanism is not the same as proof
The council claims that evening transit may reduce a barrier for adults attending a state-supported training program. You are checking that specific mechanism.
Select every record relevant to the proposed connection.
The program’s evening schedule and the proposed route’s operating hours and stops.
A public summary of participants’ reported transportation barriers without personal identifiers.
The fact that the project received a grant, with no information about service access.
A promise that every rider will receive a higher-paying job immediately.
Name the useful records and explain how they answer the claim.
04 Apply the idea.
Next year’s problem arrives early
The fictional grant is explicitly a one-year award. The council wants to promise the same transit service forever without identifying another funding source.
Which advice is most responsible?
Identify future operating costs and possible lawful funding before making a continuing promise.
Assume that every one-year grant automatically renews forever.
Ignore operating costs because equipment or setup costs have already been paid.
Choose a conclusion and explain why it fits the situation.
05 Carry the idea forward.
Recommend one feasible project mix and explain its opportunity cost. Connect the national/state funding decisions to a possible effect on economic opportunity, then identify evidence needed to evaluate that effect.