Government Departments in America - Assignment Example

1. In America, these are six stages that are involved when various government departments are making decisions. However, the process involves additional mini-stages. Problem Identification Either elite opinion or public opinion communicates dissatisfaction in a particular status quo policy. At this stage, the problem is identified, defined and articulated by institutions such as interest groups, mass media, and political parties. Agenda Setting Before formulating and adopting a policy, the issue at hand must compete for space on the list of items currently being actively considered. The budget idea must make it through the broad political system, presidential agendas and the congressional, and the bureaucratic agenda Policy Making From the list of the problems identified, the main policy that addresses the problem at hand is formulated. Those formulations are then adopted through the congressional process and then to the bureaucratic process. Budgeting After the policy has been adopted, budget allocation is done. In this case, the Congress must make a decision through the normal appropriations process on how much money to spend on the new policy. Implementation This part is done by the executive agencies. In this case, the policy implementation could include adopting regulations and rules, providing products and services, adjudication of disputes, public education campaigns and many others. Evaluation Various actors and observers evaluate the effects of policies. In this case, they evaluate whether the policy is solving the problem at hand by accomplishing their goals. Evaluation compares the costs and benefits of policies. Congress uses its oversight powers to seek answers on the progress of the policy project. This process is important when preparing the government budget. In this case, the budgetary committee takes the budgeting process through these stages to ensure maximum utilization of public funds. 2. A balanced budget is the one where the government raises enough money to fund the budget. In this case, the total revenues are equal to the total expenditures. In this case, there is neither a budget surplus nor a budget deficit that exists. As such, the budget accounts are in balance. However, a balanced budget generally refers the one that has no budget deficit, but a budget surplus may exist. A balance budget does not require the government to source for revenue from external sources. In addition, the government does not need to seek a supplementary budget from the legislative body to finance stalled projects as a result of financial deficiency. There are several factors that can cause budget surplus. One of them is increased taxation rate on some product. In this case, the government may increase the tax to achieve another objective rather that collecting revenue; may be to discourage consumption of a certain product. Another factor is improved economic growth or devaluation of currency in trading partners. 3. To finance operations The government has a large number of departments, parastatals, and agencies among other area that it operates. Provision of services such as medical, education and security are in the responsibilities of the government. In this case, the government requires to spend money in order to operate these functions. Assigning funds to different projects In this case, the government collects revenue so as to finance different projects that are beneficial to the public. The projects include road construction and maintenance, and constructions of other facilities that offer services to the people. To implement fiscal policy In this case, the government spends money to implement various policies that were enacted and adopted by relevant agencies. These policies, as discusses in task 1 are formulated by the legislative body and implemented by the executive. They may include the provision of goods and services or creations of other agencies. In this case the government has to spend money to implement them. Redistribute resources In this case, the government redistributes the wealth evenly among its citizens. By doing so, the government collects revenue in form of taxation. It is important to note that huge tax is collected from the rich. The government taxes salaries proportionately; those with huge income pay a lot of tax while the poor pays insignificant tax. This tax is used mainly to provide good and services to the poor as the rich can afford these commodities in private places. As such, the government obtains money from the rich and spends it on the poor. 4. Property The tax is certain. Both the taxpayer and the government are aware of the amount payable, the time of payment and the manner of payment. It upholds equality. This is because the tax is levied according to the value of property that a person owns. It is economical. There is little follow up hence tax officials do not use a lot of resources to collect the tax, Income It is not certainty. Income tax is less certain especially in the informal and private sectors. This is because individuals keep on losing a job. It has equality since it is levied progressively, those with huge income are levied huge tax and vice versa. It is economical. The income tax is economical in the formal sector as the tax is checked-off from the salary. Sales Tax income from sales is not certain as it is difficult to predict the sales Equality is not upheld. The taxation on sale discriminates on the poor as they buy goods at similar prices as the rich. It is economical to collect tax on sales as the government levies the tax from the manufacturers. As such, no one can evade the taxation so long as they buy the commodities. 5. Capital budget is the amount of public funds that the government spends on projects that have the potential to yield income. On the other hand, operating budget is the funds that are allocated to provide goods and services to the public. In this case, operating budget does not yield any income for the government. The entire budget either funds capital budget or operating budget. As such, an increase in capital budget automatically decreases the operating budget. In America, the government prefers spending money on capital budget and hence the operating budget is undermined. The constraint on the operating budget definitely decreases the operating budget. As it has been stated above, a decrease in operating budget means an increase in the capital budget. 6. Line-item budget is the budget that is based on the smallest expenditure in a budget. In this case, the budget is grouped according to cost centers and department. Zero-based budgeting places emphasis on re-justifying activities or case programs. As such, all items in the budget must be justified every new period. Again, performance based budget matches resources and the output of services. On the other hand, a program-based budget is prepared with program descriptions instead of expense items. The four areas of budgeting are similar in that they break from the major budgeting procedure where all expenses are matched against revenue. Each of the form budgeting reflects a unit based budget. Read More