At-home learning Directions:

You will be reading a few articles and watching a series of videos & an ed puzzle today. Please watch the videos and use the questions to guide your watching. **NOTE**I am not asking you to do a discussion or assignment today. You will be applying this information tomorrow.

1. Read this article. As you read the article think about these questions...

Name 3 ways the state government uses tax dollars.

Name 3 ways the local government uses tax dollars.

2. Watch this edpuzzle about paychecks and what taxes are included on taxes. Consider the following questions:

NOTE: EdPuzzle videos shuffle answer choices and do not always match the order provided in the lesson here.

What does FICA consist of?

Health insurance

Social security & Medicare

Employer sponsored retirement

Federal & State taxes

What are examples of discretionary spending? (select two correct answers)

Medicare

Education

Military

Social Security

The following options are benefits we receive as a result of government spending EXCEPT…

Public school education

Credit card debt forgiveness

National Parks maintenance

Air quality maintenance

3. Take a look at this info graphic

Which of the 9 types of taxes is the largest source of revenue for the government?

Which of the following categories do you currently pay taxes for?

4. Read this article and consider the following questions as you go through this video:

What kind of tax system does the United States use?

Explain the main differences between regressive and progressive tax systems.

What do you think are the pros and cons of a regressive tax system?

5. Because the U.S. uses a specific type of tax system, people are taxed on a rate schedule that breaks down their income into tax brackets. Watch this video on how marginal taxes work and consider the following questions.

What is one of the biggest misconceptions that some people have regarding how tax brackets work?
Explain how marginal tax rates work.
How do pay raises get taxed?

You now know how marginal tax rates are calculated. There’s another term called “effective tax rates” which are also useful to calculate, as it is the ACTUAL rate you pay on your taxes. In video example, if the last tax pocket you were taxed on was left with some space (22%), that means your actual tax rate was a little lower. Therefore, calculating the effective tax rate gives you a more accurate percentage. If you add the taxes that you pay on each “pocket” of your income, divide it by the total income, then multiply by 100, you will get your effective tax rate. Use the Vox video narrator's income of $84,000 to calculate his effective tax rate.

**Remember we will be doing an assignment tomorrow to apply this tax information**