Public Attitudes Toward Social Spending in the United States: The Differences Between Direct Spending and Tax Expenditures

This paper uses a survey experiment to examine differences in public attitudes toward 'direct' and 'indirect' government spending. Federal social welfare spending in the USA has two components: the federal government spends money to directly provide social benefits to citizens, and also indirectly subsidizes the private provision of social benefits through tax expenditures. Though benefits provided through tax expenditures are considered spending for budgetary purposes, they differ from direct spending in several ways: in the mechanisms through which benefits are delivered to citizens, in how they distribute wealth across the income spectrum, and in the visibility of their policy consequences to the mass public. We develop and test a model explaining how these differences will affect public attitudes toward spending conducted through direct and indirect means. We find that support for otherwise identical social programs is generally higher when such programs are portrayed as being delivered through tax expenditures than when they are portrayed as being delivered by direct spending. In addition, support for tax expenditure programs which redistribute wealth upward drops when citizens are provided information about the redistributive effects. Both of these results are conditioned by partisanship, with the opinions of Republicans more sensitive to the mechanism through which benefits are delivered, and the opinions of Democrats more sensitive to information about their redistributive effects.

An inventory of public school expenditures in the United States; a report of the Cooperative Study of Public School Expenditures,

Reproduced from typewritten copy.

Annual report on public university revenues and expenditures : fiscal year ... /

Public Act 93-0229, enacted into law on July 22, 2003, requires that, "within 120 days after the conclusion of each fiscal year, each State-supported institution of higher learning must provide, through the Illinois Board of Higher Education, a financial report to the Governor and General Assembly documenting the institution's revenues and expenditures of funds for that fiscal year ending June 30 for all funds." This is the first such report required under the Act, and it includes revenue and expenditure information for fiscal year 2003 (July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003). This report includes a brief narrative with several detailed data tables on public university revenues and expenditures attached as appendices.

Selected expenditures in Illinois school districts : funded under Section 842, Public Law 93-380.

Mode of access: Internet.

A statistical view of the commerce of the United States of America: its connection with agriculture and manufactures: and an account of the public debt, revenues, and expenditures of the United States.

Mode of access: Internet.

The progresses and public processions of Queen Elizabeth. Among which are interspersed other solemnities, public expenditures, and remarkable events during the reign of that illustrious princess.

Reprint of 1823 London ed.

Report of the Special commission on taxation and public expenditures ...

I. The scope of the inquiry.--II. Public welfare, with recommendations for an emergency relief tax.--III. The tax structure.--v. Administration of public welfare institutions.--VI. Housing.--VII. Department of public safety.--VIII. Revenue collection procedures.--IX. Supplementary tax recommendations.--X. City manager governmen and proportional representation.--XI. Office space requirements of state departments.--XII. Administration of fiscal affairs.--XIII. The Metropolitan district commission.--XIV. The Police department of the Metropolitan district commission.--XV. The civil service system of the commonwealth. Section I. Civil service laws, rules and regulations. Section II. Problems of organization and administration. 2 v.--XVI. Summary and final report.

Public expenditures in Australia.

Includes bibliography.

County revenues, expenditures and public properties, 1913.

Pub. in advance of the complete report pertaining to Wealth, debt, and taxation, cf. "Letter of transmittal," p. 5.

Municipal revenues, expenditures and public properties, 1913 /

Prepared in connection with the decennial investigation authorized by the permanent census act pertaining to public indebtedness, valuations, taxation, revenues and expenditures, under the supervision of Starke M. Grogan, chief statistician in charge of Wealth, debt and taxation; John Lee Coulter, expert special agent in an advisory capacity; and Arthur J. Hirsch, chief of division, and pub. in advance of the complete report. cf. "Letter of transmittal," p. 5.

Report of Public Examiner on the revenues, expenditures, and debt of state and local governments in Minnesota.

After 1943, detailed data for individual cities and villages released in a separate report; only in summary form in this report.

Annual report of the Board of Education of the City of Newark : made under the provisions of the act, entitled "an act to revise and amend the charter of the city of Newark," approved March 11, 1857, including the manual of the Board of Education, the regulations relating to the public schools, the manual of instruction, and tabular statements of statistics and expenditures for the year ... /

Includes: Course of instruction, statistics, rules of the Board of Education, and regulations.

Tax expenditures in Australia : the elevation from ‘disguised’ expenditures to architectural pillars of the 21st century

The current Australian Treasury approach to tax expenditures management and reporting is a culmination of 36 years of Government and Parliamentary reviews and reports. The most notable outcome of these reviews and reports is the publication of the annual tax expenditures statement, which commenced in 1986. Since its inception, the Australian annual tax expenditures statements have themselves been the subject of review. Most recently, the Australian National Audit Office has undertaken a performance audit in the Department of the Treasury and released its report entitled Preparation of the Tax Expenditures Statement. In addition to this 2008 report, a second recent opportunity to consider tax expenditures within the Australian tax regime has arisen. The Australian tax system is currently undergoing a comprehensive and broad review with the terms of reference requiring a consideration of all relevant tax expenditures. While the recommendations of the Australian National Audit Office are not novel, and it is not unusual for a broader review to consider the role of tax expenditures within the Australian tax system, both the recommendations of the Australian National Audit Office and the views of the current Review Panel take on a renewed sense of importance given the proliferation of tax expenditures in Australia. Tax expenditures, in terms of number and pecuniary value, have increased significantly in Australia in recent years. The latest Tax Expenditures Statement lists around 320 tax expenditures with the pecuniary value of those expenditures estimated at $73.69 billion or 7.1% of GDP. The largest category of tax expenditures listed in the 2008 Tax Expenditures Statement, totalling $29.23 billion, relate to concessions aimed at retirement savings.

Genomics research: world survey of public funding.

BACKGROUND: Over the past two decades, genomics has evolved as a scientific research discipline. Genomics research was fueled initially by government and nonprofit funding sources, later augmented by private research and development (R&D) funding. Citizens and taxpayers of many countries have funded much of the research, and have expectations about access to the resulting information and knowledge. While access to knowledge gained from all publicly funded research is desired, access is especially important for fields that have broad social impact and stimulate public dialogue. Genomics is one such field, where public concerns are raised for reasons such as health care and insurance implications, as well as personal and ancestral identification. Thus, genomics has grown rapidly as a field, and attracts considerable interest. RESULTS: One way to study the growth of a field of research is to examine its funding. This study focuses on public funding of genomics research, identifying and collecting data from major government and nonprofit organizations around the world, and updating previous estimates of world genomics research funding, including information about geographical origins. We initially identified 89 publicly funded organizations; we requested information about each organization's funding of genomics research. Of these organizations, 48 responded and 34 reported genomics research expenditures (of those that responded but did not supply information, some did not fund such research, others could not quantify it). The figures reported here include all the largest funders and we estimate that we have accounted for most of the genomics research funding from government and nonprofit sources. CONCLUSION: Aggregate spending on genomics research from 34 funding sources averaged around $2.9 billion in 2003-2006. The United States spent more than any other country on genomics research, corresponding to 35% of the overall worldwide public funding (compared to 49% US share of public health research funding for all purposes). When adjusted to genomics funding intensity, however, the United States dropped below Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Canada, as measured both by genomics research expenditure per capita and per Gross Domestic Product.

Health expenditures in the OECD: A political economy analysis using structural breaks

A Masters Thesis, presented as part of the requirements for the award of a Research Masters Degree in Economics from NOVA – School of Business and Economics