DISCUSSION QUESTION

  1. The Urban Institute reading, State and Local Revenuesreports total revenues for U.S. local governments in 2019 and the reading by Erin Duffin reports total revenues for reporting U.S. nonprofit organizations in 2016.    Even though the reporting years are different, which one collected more revenues – Local governments or nonprofit organizations (show your comparative figures)?
  2. Expenditures on Health and Hospitals (in Urban Institute, State and Local Expenditures) – Looking at Percentage change in state and local expenditures – has spending on Health and Hospitals (1) stayed about the same or (2) grown substantially  in the period between 1977 and 2019?
  3. Local Government Revenues (in Urban Institute, State and Local Revenues) – in 2019 did local governments collect more revenue through property taxes or intergovernmental transfers?
  4. Class, Tax and Power: Municipal Budgeting in the United States: In this reading many budgeting and financial concepts are mentioned that we will study in more detail later.   It is valuable to see the historical and social circumstances that gave rise to them. Briefly answer the following in a sentence or two.
    1. Historically, have innovations and reform in budgeting tended to start from local governments and flow to the state and federal practices or has it generally run the other way?
    2. During which of the four major U.S. historical periods of budgeting were program and performance budgeting first conceived?
  • During the Post World War II period there were two or more new budgeting innovations or systems.  These were linked to the economic circumstances.  In a short paragraph (two or three sentences) describe one of these innovations and note the economic circumstances that gave rise to it.
  1. In your next management position you encounter an extremely cumbersome budget reporting practice that consumes what you believe is and inappropriate amount of time for information that you perceive is of limited current value.  What might Irene Rubin’s (the author of Class, Tax and Power…) guidance and insights suggest to you about the potential source of this budget reporting practice?