[nathanbedford]

This is the question I got wrong with the explanation:

uestion: If taxes equal government spending, then:

Your Answer: government debt is zero

Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

How can this be correct when the government receives money from taxes which are not taxes on individuals? If the government is receiving taxes from corporations, for example, it's expenditures per person far exceeds its revenues from those persons.

I understand the "on average" modification but I do not read it to mean that all taxes from all sources averaged by dividing it by the number of people even though not derived exclusively from people.

In considering my (wrong) answer I understood that it seemed to apply better to "deficit" rather than to "debt" but there was no time limit so one can assume that taxes equal expenditures from the beginning of time and therefore there would be no debt.

[berdie]

I stumbled on that question as well...and answered the same.

I also didn’t answer the Plato, Aquinas question correctly.

Oh well, 31 out of 33.

[Catmom]

I got the same 32 out of 33 you did. Still don’t understand the explanation.

[21twelve]

The only thing is, gov’t debt = 0 would mean this scenario had been forever. Heck, with investments maybe it would even be in the black? But it is an awkward question and answer.

I only missed the Puritan's one. I was going to put the sinful thing in, but then figured it might be a trick question.

I'll have to see how my kids do on this!

[fella]

That’s the one I missed too.

[PA Engineer]

In considering my (wrong) answer I understood that it seemed to apply better to "deficit" rather than to "debt" but there was no time limit so one can assume that taxes equal expenditures from the beginning of time and therefore there would be no debt.

Agreed. That was the one I missed and my thinking too.

[bruinbirdman]

". . . so one can assume . . . "

We know: Tax = Spending

Therefore: Tax/population = Spending/population

No assumption necessary.

I missed one also.

Question: Free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government’s centralized planning because:

Your Answer: property rights and contracts are best enforced by the market system

Correct Answer: the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends

Of course, property rights and contracts are best enforced by rule of law.

yitbos

[Sherman Logan]

Kind of a dumb question. Don’t see the point.

But total spending divided by number of people = total revenue divided by number of people only if accounts balance.

[PapaBear3625]

uestion: If taxes equal government spending, then: Your Answer: government debt is zero Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

If taxes equal government spending at the moment, that does not mean that debt will be zero, if government spending was greater than taxes in the past. It would just mean that debt would not be growing.

How can this be correct when the government receives money from taxes which are not taxes on individuals?

The question just says "taxes", which would include taxes on individuals, corp taxes, etc. It still would not include, for example, government revenue from leasing government land for cattle grazing, sale of offshore drilling rights, etc.

The question writer decided to be cute about the definition of "average".

[AnAmericanMother]

Me too. I agree.

[Texas Mulerider]

That’s the one question I missed as well. We’re right, the test administrators are wrong.

[GreenAccord]

Think of the semantic difference between DEBT and DEFICIT. There is Government Debt even if (such as during the Gingrich Congress) we actually run an annual surplus (which would mean no deficit for a given year).

[Poser]

To answer the question on government debt and taxes:

If government spending exactly equals tax payments, the budget is balances. That does not speak for the continuing debt of the country which might have been accumulated in the past. So... The only correct answer is that the average collected per citizen is the average collected per citizen.

[zeugma]

I missed the same one. I too thought the answers did not quite fit the question.