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Free Ride helps students identify goods and services provided by the government and evaluate the cost of government provided goods and services.
Many goods and services are provided by the Government, including the building and maintenance of roads. Children and their families make use of roads daily, seemingly free of charge. This lesson plan explores the true cost of a ‘free ride’.
Explain to the students that there are many goods and services which the government provides for us which individuals do not need to pay for directly. An example is their school.
Ask the students:
Explain to the students that they are accustomed to using many goods and services without thinking how much it really costs. Each day, students come to school on government provided roads. Each student also enjoys walking in the parks and woods.
Ask the students:
Now, ask the students:
Explain that the working people give a share of their income to the government and this share is called a tax. When we buy something we also pay a little bit more than the price tag says – it is called a tax too. Thus, the gas tax pays the construction and maintenance of the roads.
Activity 1
Have students explore the Department of Transportation Finance Page (https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/1999annual/finance.htm ) to answer the following questions:
Looking at Section 1 (Highway Account Revenues Table and Pie Chart)
Have students look at Section 2 (Federal Obligations Table and Pie Chart).
Have students look at Section 3 (What It’s Used For Table and Chart).
Activity 2
Have the students complete the Student Activity
Once students have completed the activity they will have the option to print their answers. If you would like a hard copy of their work, have them print their results and turn them in.
If you would like to have students complete a print version of this activity, use the following button to print a copy.
Have students place the following steps in order by creating a flow-chart:
Ask the students to define tax and taxpayers.
Answer the following question. Explain your answer using 3 or 4 complete sentences.
Who really pays for the roads? (All the people of the country pay for the goods and services that are provided by the government).
1. Ask students to visit these pages and determine:
2. Have students look at the Interstate System Facts found at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.cfm
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Grades K-2, 3-5
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