Sunday, May 24, 2020

US Federal Government Gasoline Tax Since 1933

The gas tax was first imposed by the federal government in 1932 at a mere 1 cent per gallon. It has increased 10 times since President Herbert Hoover authorized the creation of such a tax to balance the budget. Drivers now pay 18.4 cents a gallon in the federal gas tax. First authorized by Congress in 1932 to help balance the federal budget, the federal gas tax is now used to pay for building and maintaining interstate highways and bridges. In addition to the federal tax, each state adds its own tax to every gallon of gas sold in the state. Revenue from the federal gas tax is pumped into the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). The HTF funds federal and state infrastructure projects for roads, bridges and public transportation systems. Each state collects, manages, and decides how to spend its state gas tax revenue. Here are the gas tax rates per gallon through the years, according to U.S. Department of Transportation and Congressional Research Service reports: 1 cent - June 1932 through May 1933 Hoover authorized the first ever gas tax as a way to close an anticipated $2.1 billion federal deficit in the fiscal year 1932, a time of severe depression when the government saw revenue in steep decline. According to the Congressional Research Service report The Federal Excise Tax on Gasoline and the Highway Trust Fund: A Short History by Louis Alan Talley, the government raised $124.9 million from the gas tax in the fiscal year 1933, which represented 7.7 percent of the total Internal Revenue collection of $1.620 billion from all sources. 1.5 cents - June 1933 through December 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, signed by Hoover, extended the original gas tax and increased it to 1.5 cents. 1 cent - January 1934 through June 1940 The Revenue Act of 1934 rescinded the half-cent gas tax increase. 1.5 cents - July 1940 through October 1951 Congress raised the gas tax by half a cent in 1940, just before the United States entered World War II, to help boost national defense. It also made the gas tax permanent in 1941. 2 cents - November 1951 through June 1956 The Revenue Act of 1951 increased the gas tax to generate additional revenue after the Korean War began. 3 cents - July 1956 through September 1959 The Highway Revenue Act of 1956 established the federal Highway Trust Fund to pay for the construction of an Interstate System, Talley wrote, as well as financing primary, secondary and urban routes. The gas tax was hiked to help generate revenue for the projects. 4 cents - October 1959 through March 1983 The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1959 boosted the gas tax by 1 cent. 9 cents - April 1983 through December 1986 In the largest single gas tax increase, President Ronald Reagan authorized a 5 cent hike in the rate spelled out in the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, which helped to fund both highway construction and mass transit systems across the country. 9.1 cents - January 1987 through August 1990 The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 tacked on a tenth of a cent to help pay for repairing leaking underground storage tanks. 9 cents - September 1990 through November 1990 The Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund had reached its revenue goal for the year and the gas tax was reduced by a tenth of a cent. 14.1 cents - December 1990 through September 1993 President George H. W. Bushs signature on the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which was designed to help close the federal budget deficit, increased the gas tax by 5 cents. Half of the new gas tax revenue went to the Highway Trust Fund and the other went to deficit reduction, according to the Transportation Department. 18.4 cents - October 1993 through December 1995 The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, signed by President Bill Clinton, increased the gas tax by 4.3 cents to again reduce the federal deficit. None of the additional revenue was put into to the Highway Trust Fund, according to the Transportation Department. 18.3 cents - January 1996 through September 1997 The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, also signed by Clinton, redirected revenue from the 1993 gas tax increase of 4.3 cents to the Highway Trust Fund. The gas tax dropped a tenth of a cent because the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund expired. 18.4 cents - October 1997 through today A tenth of a cent was tacked back onto the gas tax because the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund was reinstated. Information on federal and state gasoline taxes, including the current federal and state gas tax rates, can be found on the website of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Notes On Motivation And Management - 3141 Words

Lindsay Walter Kimberly Lott TEAL 6100: Motivation and Management in Inclusive Settings 25 June 2015 Introduction/Philosophy My philosophy of education is couched in my experience in an elementary school classroom. I believe that a teacher’s job is to teach students not only what to learn, but how to continue to learn and survive in today’s ever-changing global community. To achieve this, it is a teacher’s primary responsibility to create a motivational, comfortable, stimulating environment that recognizes and supports different learning styles. Instruction, and thus learning, should be differentiated, collaborative, varied, constructivist, and extend beyond the immediate problems, text, and issues at hand. The classroom is a dynamic place where multiple modalities should be included in all learning activities to accommodate for different learning styles. Students should be able to work collaboratively and independently. As a result of effective modeling and teaching, students should know what their best work looks like, and be motivated to achieve that. Teachers should employ scaffolding to support students to help close the Zone of Proximal Development to bring them from point A to point B and eventually build their skill set and confidence enough to remove that scaffolding so that students can continue to progress on their own. Education should challenge students to further justify and apply their learning by finding points of interest that engage them so they continue toShow MoreRelatedHiring Skilled Contract Workers: A Growing Trend in Business644 Words   |  3 Pagesshared mission, to feel as part of something bigger than themselves, and can be a source of motivation. When the motivation for a contract employee is a paycheck and something for the CV, these objectives are not necessarily congruent with the objectives of the hiring company. Thomas (no date) notes, however, that much of team-building does not relate to developing a coherent organizational culture. Teams, he notes, can be motivated when managers pay attention to their individual needs, orient rewardsRead MoreSocial Cognitive Theory1628 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation† (Hatcher, 2015). The lesson plan should implement all three modes of modeling for students. By doing so, modeling is encouraged to all students. An example of each mode is the teacher or a guest speaker as the live model giving verbal instruction and using videos and other media to supplement learning with symbolic models. 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As the author further points out, these changes could either be systematic or sudden. Changes are largely inevitable. In projects, changes according to Meredith and Mantel (2009, P.167) could be caused by three things; errors in initial assessments, receipt of new info regarding the ongoing project, and projectRead MoreThe Effects Of Emotional Intelligence On An Individuals Leadership Abilities1338 Words   |  6 Pagesintelligence effects my self-leadership, to understand my self-development as it pertains to my emotional intelligence. After taking the Global EI Capability Assessment test, my scores for self-awareness was a six, self-management was a six, social-awareness was a nine, and relationship management was an eight. These scores for emotional intelligence were based out of ten and reflected my self-awareness as a leader in each category. Once I looked at the scores there was not initial reaction with my assessment

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Minister s Black Veil - 1004 Words

The Minister s Black veil is a Romanticism. A romanticism is a movement in the art which sprung during the eighteenth and nineteenth century.Romantic is used to describe literature. It is defined as a depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form. As well as the imagination and emotion and the freedom embraced are all focus points of romanticism. Characteristics Of this literature piece would include subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism. Solitary life rather than life in society. The beliefs that imagination is superior than the reason and devotion to beauty, the love and worship of nature as well as the fascination with the past. Mr Hooper is displayed as a romantic character.Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story of personal and†¦show more content†¦And in some way it foreshadows the outcome yet you have to make a educated guess to figure out this question. It is important to remember that Hawthorne was considered a Dark Romantic rather than just a Romantic autho r. The Dark Romantics, as they were named, consisted of authors such as Hawthorne, Poe and Melville. They were considered as almost anti-Transcendentalists because the way they looked at the world was so different to the optimistic views of Emerson and authors of his time. However, the work of these Dark Romantics did actually have much in common with the Transcendentalists. Both groups valued intuition over logic and reason. Both groups saw signs and symbols in all events. Where they differ is that the Dark Romantics, when considering nature, placed an emphasis on Original Sin, its sense of the innate wickedness of human beings, and its notions of predestination.To emphasize he is a romantic in this case categorized as a Dark romantic. The black veil Seems to be a very important and major role in the story it is a symbol in which it dictates the story. The veil worn by Mr. Hooper, the minister in The Minister s Black Veil is a symbol for the sins that mankind

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Research Proposal Regarding Low Employee Morale-Myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Research proposal regarding low Employee Morale. Answer: Introduction: This research proposal revolves around a company that goes by the name Verbeek Export. Hans Verbreek established it in the year 1975. The company was initially setup for distributing flowers. Its range of operations includes Europe and Scandinavia. The research proposal will identify key reasons that lead to decrease in profit for the company. Following identification of key reasons, the proposal will develop a methodology for collecting and assessing data. After assessment, the proposal would be able to provide a recommendation. Decrease in profit is a business problem, this inhibits growth, and viability of the business is put under scanner. It was established that due to low morale of employees, productivity of the company was hit and this resulted in reduction of profit. Additionally, the proposal would help in providing recommendation that would help to mitigate the business problem identified. Background: By internal research, it was established that workload in the company is unbalanced. Employees were showing signs of fatigue by working long hours in the company. This resulted in poor quality of work. Based on internal feedback, the company decided to introduce a break of 15 minutes. This solution was not enough as the company faced employee retention issues. Prior investigation also revealed that a rival company of Verbeek Export paid higher rates to workers and this contributed to retention issues in the company. Research aim and objectives: The research aims to find out contributing factors that leads to low morale among employees. The research also aims to find out underlying causes that leads to lower productivity. To identify the factors that leads to low morale of employees. To identify the factors that leads to lower productivity. To provide recommendation to mitigate the business problem. Research questions: Q1. What are the factors that lead to low morale? Q2. What are the contributing factors that lead to low productivity in a company? Q3. What can be done to solve the business problem? Literature review: A problem within a business might lead lowering of profit. This can stem from internal issues such as low morale. Morale of employees is difficult to manage. For any organization, it is critical to maintain high employee retention rate and this puts focus on how to increase employee morale (Qureshi et al., 2015). The process of determining employee satisfaction level for the company is difficult since it is hard to get a read on employees feelings. It is widespread believe among top managers that the leading cause of low morale is money but that is not the case always (Kocakulah, et al., 2016). Lack of development of the employee, reduced employee morale, and a feeling of detachment from company objectives leads to lower employee retention rates. It was also established that employees wants to feel that they are part of something bigger, which actually means their role, has an impact on the business conducted by the organization (Grissom, Viano Selin, 2016). This literature review w ill provide some top reasons that lead to decrease in employee morale. Morale issues arise from poor treatment of employees by managers. Employees will not feel motivated if their managers do not treat them with respect (Fast, Burris Bartel, 2014). Employees become increasingly frustrated when goals keep changing. This happens when previous work fades away because old goals contradict with new goals. The third factor that reduces employee morale is lack of clarity about expectations. For employees of an organization, it is particularly discouraging to know nothing about goals (Morrison, See Pan, 2015). Goals must be clear for every employee. For an organization, there can be certain set of criteria by which a performance of employee is measured. Employees are bound to feel frustrated if they are not able to know the criterias by which they are being judged. Lack in communication among employee and a supervisor will lead to lower morale. Resentment and hatred arises among employees when they feel they are sidelined. It is critical for a company to have proper communication channels in the hierarchy. Employee morale will also decrease if their hard work is not recognized by the organization. Each employee wishes that his or her hard work were recognized. A simple praise by a supervisor can do a trick. The sixth point will highlight the lack of employee development plan. If there are no clear development plans available, then employees will not be able to realize their full potential. Morale can also be lowered from lack of trust. An employee would not be able to perform his/her abilities to the fullest if his/her every move is being scrutinized. One of the most important factors that lead to low employee morale is immense workload. A company should review workload of employees at regular interval to keep a check on employee morale. Employee morale is decreased when they are not compensated adequately. If the compensation does not reflect the amount of work done by the employee then resentment among the employees will be on the rise (Judge et al., 2017). Productivity of the company is very important and thus, few points will be discussed. Cash incentives and non-cash incentives such as trips and gifts can b e introduced to increase productivity of the company. Office picnics are a great way to rejuvenate for the employees. This type of activities helps the employees to unwind and releases stress which further results in increase in productivity. Team building exercise can be undertaken to make the employees socialize with one another. This will also result in increasing productivity among the employees. Low employee morale will decrease collaboration between teams, negatively impact culture of the team and this will affect the way customers are treated. The main problem lies with the environment. The environment that is created through attitudes, biases and faulty policies will lead to decrease in morale. Some of the main causes of low employee morale are lack of clarity, lack of growth, leadership changes and issues with leadership. To deal with low employee morale the organization must practice transparency, give recognition to employees, must train managers, must offer growth, should collect feedback and have extensive team building exercise. The above points mentioned will mitigate the risk of having low employee morale in the organization. Research Methodology: Data collection method: Before starting this data collection process, the need for qualitative and explorative study will be established. Data collection method for this research will be in-depth interviews. Semi structured and long interview method will be followed. Long interview method will be followed since the area is relatively new for the research to be conducted upon. Semi structured interviews will be followed when the interview questions will be varied according to the answers provided by the respondent. Additionally, the long interview method will provide opportunity to see the world from respondents perspective. A research process is completed with the help of primary and secondary data. Data that is collected by surveys, interviews and questionnaire is termed as primary data (Hewson Stewart, 2016). Secondary data refers to data collected from books and journals that already contains researched material (Stage Manning, 2015). Primary data will be collected from the workers working in similar i ndustry such as flower delivery service. The main data will be collected from employees of similar industry who are willing to resign because of low employee morale. Additionally, feedback will be collected from them which will point out their frustrations and what they want the organization to do in order to eliminate the resentment in them. Data analysis Method: Interview transcripts will be compiled and analyzed using a computer aided data analysis software ATLAS.ti (Friese, 2014). Data analysis plan is of two types- first one is quantitative data analysis and the second one is qualitative data analysis (Graue, 2015). Data analysis method chosen will be qualitative data analysis since the data gathered from interviews and transcripts will be evaluated in a qualitative manner. Qualitative analysis of data is useful when there is no need to conduct mathematical and statistical analysis of an entire survey. Sampling Method: Two types of sampling method are there for a research process. First one is probability and the second one is non- probability. For the probability sample method, respondents and sample are selected on a random basis. It is used to know the complete response of a group for a given topic. The second one is non-probability method where the selections of respondents randomly are not allowed. For this specific type of sampling method, the research focuses on a target group, which is apt for the research (Palinkas et al., 2015). Non- probability sampling method will be chosen for the research since the target group is known for the research. The main target groups are the employees on the verge of resigning because of low employee morale. Ethical issues: Here ethical considerations relates to participants and steps undertaken to protect their interest and privacy. Participants chosen will be mainly English speaking and for those who are not English speaking translator will be provided. Special care will be taken to see that the translator must not alter information provided by the participants (Olteanu, K?c?man Castillo, 2018). Ethical issues may also arise from the fact that limited options are provided for a question and this indicates biasness. A consent form will be provided to every participant so that they can withdraw if they feel obligated to do so. Time Horizon: The first month shall be utilized in selecting the topic and researching about relevant information from research journals and books. The second month will be utilized in researching about the topic. Plan of research and the manner in which it will be conducted will be researched in the third month. Primary data will be collected in the fourth month. Data will be analyzed by the fifth month. By the end of sixth month, the research proposal will be drafted. Expected outcome: Interviews that will be performed as a part of this research will provide insights into the employee morale. This research will also be able to pin point the reasons that leads to lower productivity in the company. It can be said that the primary objective of this research proposal is to identify the factors that leads to low employee morale. Extensive research will also identify suggestions that will mitigate the risk of low employee morale in similar industry. References Fast, N. J., Burris, E. R., Bartel, C. A. (2014). Managing to stay in the dark: Managerial self-efficacy, ego defensiveness, and the aversion to employee voice.Academy of Management Journal,57(4), 1013-1034. Friese, S. (2014).Qualitative data analysis with ATLAS. ti. Sage. Graue, C. (2015). Qualitative data analysis.International Journal Of Sales, Retailing Marketing,4(9), 5-14. Grissom, J. A., Viano, S. L., Selin, J. L. (2016). Understanding employee turnover in the public sector: Insights from research on teacher mobility.Public Administration Review,76(2), 241-251. Hewson, C., Stewart, D. W. (2016).Internet research methods. John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Judge, T. A., Weiss, H. M., Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D., Hulin, C. L. (2017). Job attitudes, job satisfaction, and job affect: A century of continuity and of change.Journal of Applied Psychology,102(3), 356. Kocakulah, M. C., Kelley, A. G., Mitchell, K. M., Ruggieri, M. P. (2016). Absenteeism problems and costs: causes, effects and cures.The International Business Economics Research Journal (Online),15(3), 89. Morrison, E. W., See, K. E., Pan, C. (2015). An approach?inhibition model of employee silence: The joint effects of personal sense of power and target openness.Personnel Psychology,68(3), 547-580. Olteanu, A., K?c?man, E., Castillo, C. (2018, February). A Critical Review of Online Social Data: Biases, Methodological Pitfalls, and Ethical Boundaries. InProceedings of the Eleventh ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining(pp. 785-786). ACM. Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research.Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research,42(5), 533-544. Qureshi, M. I., Iftikhar, M., Janjua, S. Y., Zaman, K., Raja, U. M., Javed, Y. (2015). Empirical investigation of mobbing, stress and employees behavior at work place: quantitatively refining a qualitative model.Quality Quantity,49(1), 93-113. Stage, F. K., Manning, K. (Eds.). (2015).Research in the college context: Approaches and methods. Routledg