Taxes on wages make up the bulk of federal revenue every year. Where does that money go, and who decides how much you should pay?

The process is extremely complicated - and deeply political - which is why it's important for everyday taxpayers to understand how the people they elected choose to spend the money voters give out of their paychecks every year. 

We talk with tax policy expert moran.html">Beverly Moran, a Paulus fellow at Boston College Law School and professor emerita at Vanderbilt, about how budget reconciliation works: where Congress decides where it will cut taxes, and how it will make up for those cuts. We also talk about how those decisionsaffect the vast majority of taxpayers, who earn most of their wealth from salary or wages... and how it looks different for the wealthiest Americans. Find Beverly's research on the impact of the 2017 TCJA here. 

Listen to our episodes on the history of the income tax in the United States, and how the tax return process works. 

We used a number of sources in this episode. Here are some, in order of appearance: 

How much revenue has the US  government collected this year? from the US Treasury Department. 

Reconciliation explainer from the Congressional Budget Office.

Budget Reconciliation: Tracking the 2025 Trump Tax Cuts from the Tax Foundation. 

What are itemized deductions and who claims them? from the Tax Policy Center. 

How did the TCJA change taxes of families with children? from the Tax Policy Center. 

The 2017 Tax Law Was Skewed to the Rich, Expensive, and Failed to Deliver on Its Promises from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 

Lifting the SALT Cap: Estimated Budgetary Effects, 2024 and Beyond from Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. 

Differences between the traditional CPI and Chained CPI from the Congressional Budget Office. 

Republicans say Medicaid cuts won't happen. But does their budget work without them? from NPR. 

tax-cuts-trump.html">Republicans want to lower taxes. The hard part is choosing what to cut. from the New York Times. 

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It’s the government on your doorstep — the only Executive Branch agency that visits every home in the country on a regular basis. So how does the USPS do it? And what happens when an agency this essential is in trouble? Our guests for this episode are Allison Marsh, history professor at the University of South Carolina and Kevin Kosar, a Vice President at R Street.

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• Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!

Two years ago today, we attended Civic Learning Week and produced an episode on the state of civics education in the US. We heard some good things and some frustrating things. Today we're getting an update on civics education with Emma Humphries from iCivics, hearing some student audio submissions from our friends at the Youth Media Challenge, and getting advice on how students can make change with Cheryl Cook-Kallio.

Click here to livestream the National Forum for Civics Learning Week.

Click here to listen to our episodes on civics education in the US.

Click here to read the full State of Young People report published by America's Promise Alliance.

And finally, click here to check out the work students are producing (and submit your own!) for KQED's Youth Media Challenge.

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• Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!

Meet your president's Cabinet! Who was appointed, by what margin, and a look at the backgrounds of the people filling these critical roles.

In other words, who is running our country? Let's find out. 

This is the second part of a two-part episode. 

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• Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!

Meet your president's Cabinet. Who was appointed, by what margin, and a look at the backgrounds of the people filling these critical roles.

In other words, who is running our country? Let's find out. 

This is the first part of a two-part episode. 

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• CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 
• To see Civics 101 in book form, check out gV4ZTnupzh9kEv4AEpX7jHVhvqqXVSZmOAryjrgo.MKpOMk22W8ZBn4vph5XOhdkQKfDGhDHp_JT2GsIHBws&dib_tag=se&keywords=a+user%27s+guide+to+democracy&qid=1730151470&s=audible&sr=1-1-catcorr">A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.
• Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!

Ariel Lawhon discusses the real-life early American midwife at the center of her novel The Frozen River. 

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• Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!

When it comes to the protection of a free and fair press, there is one landmark Supreme Court case that sits at the top, and it is New York Times Company v Sullivan (1964). 

This case redefined libel in the United States and is cited in almost every defamation suit since, but its origin is in the Civil Rights Movement, when newspapers were sued to the brink of collapse for covering protests in the south. 

Taking us through libel, defamation, and "actual malice" are Ang Reidell, Director of Outreach and Curriculum at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and Samantha Barbas, professor at the Iowa College of Law and author of Actual Malice: Civil Rights and Freedom of the Press in New York Times v. Sullivan.

Click here to watch a fantastic documentary from Annenberg on the case.

Quick note to teachers! Our guests are collaborating today! The first fifty teachers who join the Civics Renewal Network will receive a free copy of Samantha Barbas's book, click here to sign up and get yours today!

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• Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!

Have you ever wondered with the White House counsel does? Who it is? Whether that person is the president’s personal lawyer…or something else? And what about the Justice Department? Where do all those legal types fit in?

Our guest is political science professor Nancy Kassop. She’s an expert on many things, but her extensive experience interviewing White House counsels helped us dig deep on this topic. We also dive into the legal norms and traditions that are being strained under the Trump administration.

Civics 101 is hosted by Hannah McCarty and Nick Capodice. Christina Phillips produced and anchored this episode. 

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• Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!

It's a term thrown around quite a bit lately, but what does it actually mean? This is an episode about the basics of the Law of the Land, the three branches of government and what happens when they're don't work the way they're supposed to.

Our guide is Aziz Huq, Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. His books include The Rule of Law: A Very Short Introduction, The Collapse of Constitutional Remedies  and How to Save a Constitutional Democracy. 

If you want some extra context for this one, check out these other episodes:

Checks and Balances

So Long, Chevron

What is "originalism"?

How Should We Govern the Algorithm?

The Fourteenth Amendment

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Every president (with the exception of William Henry Harrison)  has issued executive orders. Most recently, Donald Trump issued several on his first day in office. Some have been published in the Federal Register, others are facing legal challenges.

So what IS an executive order? How do they differ from other executive actions, like proclamations or memoranda? Who writes them? Who reviews them? All that and more with our guest Andy Rudalevidge,  professor of Government at Bowdoin and author of By Executive Order: Bureaucratic Management and the Limits of Presidential Power.

Click here for our episode on the Federal Register.

Here is a link to every single proclamation issued by a president.

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• Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it!