Civics Today Citizenship, Economics, & You

Chapter 25: Government Finances

Web Activity Lesson Plans

Introduction
In this chapter students read about government budgets. Each level of government has several sources of revenue. Government leaders must determine their resources and priorities and create a plan for spending. In this activity students will find out some of the sources of revenue for local governments.

Lesson Description
In this lesson students will visit the Internal Revenue Service's Understanding Taxes site. After reviewing the information they will answer several questions. By contacting their own local government they will then be able to create a circle graph showing the different sources of revenue.

1. The learner will be able to identify sources of government revenue.
2. The learner will be able to create a circle graph that shows sources of their own local government's revenue.

1. The money the federal government uses comes mostly from the taxes that people pay.
2. The federal budget outlines how the government obtains and then spends its money.
3. individual income taxes
4. to Social Security
5. Students' graphs should reflect accurate information from their local government's budget.