An airline has also found a way to tap into volunteerism by offering miles for volunteer work. For every 50 hours of volunteer work given to at least one of seven different nonprofit organizations, students earn 5,000 bonus miles up to a maximum of 10,000 total miles during a 12-month school year. That means students could help pay for their spring break airfare to the Caribbean by ladling out meals to hungry people closer to home. It's that dreadful time of year again fellow taxpayers. It's too late to do anything about 1999, but the federal budget for 2001 is currently under discussion in Congress.
Most federal revenues come from taxes.
Between 1956 and 1999, payroll taxes increased substantially as a percent of total revenues, and corporate income taxes declined, but individual income taxes have remained roughly constant. Social insurance payroll taxes include Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, and Federal employee retirement payments. This category has grown from two percent of GDP in 1955 to an estimated 6.8 percent in 2001. Excise taxes apply to various products, including alcohol, tobacco, transportation fuels, and telephone services. The Government also collects estate and gift taxes, customs duties, and miscellaneous revenues, e.g., Federal Reserve earnings, fines, penalties, and forfeitures.