According to Wikipedia, the benefit principle is “a concept in the theory of taxation from public finance. It bases taxes to pay for public-goods expenditures on a politically-revealed willingness to pay for benefits received. The principle is sometimes likened to the function of prices in allocating private goods.” The benefit principle was supposed to help the government decide what projects to take on, and who pays for it. But there are problems with the benefit principle. According to Hello Vaia, “Two main drawbacks of the benefit principle of taxation are: it’s often difficult to accurately determine the level of benefits each individual receives from public services, and it may exacerbate wealth inequality as lower income earners may pay a disproportionately higher amount for services compared to higher income earners.”

What was the Washington Monument Syndrome? According to Wikipedia, “The Washington Monument syndrome, also known as the Mount Rushmore syndrome or the firemen first principle, is a term used to describe the phenomenon of government agencies in the United States cutting the most visible or appreciated service provided by the government when faced with budget cuts.” Years ago, the Department of Interior was told it needs to make budget cuts, so they shut down the Washington Monument and did not allow access for tourists. They did this because they knew the public would scream for it to re-open. Now, their were some things that the Department of the Interior could have shut down besides the Washington Monument, but they purposefully chose the thing the public would scream the most for, so that the public would get the budget restored.

What are anti-poverty programs? These things include food assistance, housing assistance, family tax credits, etc. Anything that keeps millions of Americans for poverty each year. It also reduces hardships for other millions. These programs are just supposed to keep people out of poverty.

What are the primary problem facing a policymaker trying to design a program to benefit people in unfortunate circumstances? A policymaker is a person involved in formulating policies, especially in politics. According to standardfusion.com, here are some problems facing policymakers, “Inconsistent Document Creation and Editing, Poor Policy Maintenance, Lack of Accountability, Outdated Documents, Improper Policy Mapping.”