The Politics of Taxes and Budgets

REVISED

Spring 2013 quarter

Faculty

Howard Schwartz

Fields of Study

government and political economy

Prerequisites

Some college level work in history, politics, or economics

Description

Taxes are the quintessential political issue. They affect everyone but not equally. They are needed in order to pay for almost all government activities. They can be—and are—used as instruments of governmental policy sometime consciously, sometimes inadvertently. And they arouse furious passions. We will survey the kinds of taxes governments levy, how the tax burden and governmental benefits are distributed in the United States and elsewhere, and how tax systems are challenged and changed. Our learning objectives will be to understand how tax systems work and the interplay of quantitative and qualitative reasoning in political discussions about them: how numbers, ideology, and economic interest drive politics and policy.

Advertised Schedule

6-10p Thu

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

Enhanced Online Learning

Books

Greener Store

Offered During

Evening

Program Revisions