Using your favorite search engine, select a local Ohio government budget that has not filed a petition for bankruptcy. Evaluate the past three years of the selected government’s distribution of income. Develop an analysis including the following:

Evaluate trends of revenue sources and balances (funds, surpluses, deficits) and how they impact the government’s budget.
Evaluate ethical practices of financial policy on taxes, fees, and charges.
Assess internal/external opportunities and challenges of revenue sources.

 

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.

God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

Sample Solution

Analyze the impact of inflation on taxes and other revenue sources.

The local Ohio government budget I have selected is the City of Cleveland’s 2020-2021 annual financial report. Over the past three years, the City has seen a slight increase in total revenues due to increased tax and fee collections, as well as increased transfers from other governmental agencies. In 2018, total revenue was $1,423 million; in 2019 it rose to $1,428 million; and in 2020 it reached $1,436 million. The majority of these funds came from real estate taxes (43%), income taxes (36%), permitting charges (9%) and sales tax (8%).

Sample Solution

Analyze the impact of inflation on taxes and other revenue sources.

The local Ohio government budget I have selected is the City of Cleveland’s 2020-2021 annual financial report. Over the past three years, the City has seen a slight increase in total revenues due to increased tax and fee collections, as well as increased transfers from other governmental agencies. In 2018, total revenue was $1,423 million; in 2019 it rose to $1,428 million; and in 2020 it reached $1,436 million. The majority of these funds came from real estate taxes (43%), income taxes (36%), permitting charges (9%) and sales tax (8%).

In terms of ethical practices, Cleveland’s financial policies are largely compliant with state laws regarding allocating money for public services such as education or infrastructure while conforming to any debt limit restrictions set by its charter. As far as external challenges go, low economic growth could affect revenue collections going forward especially if people become more conservative with their spending . This can be offset however by increasing fees or introducing new ones when needed though this approach might not always be received positively by citizens who will have bear burden additional costs imposed upon them .

Regarding internal opportunities available city one must consider possibility using reserves set aside during good times cover expenses during difficult ones reduce amount borrowing necessary maintain balance . Additionally there hope that through investments technology modernization certain processes like collection data application payment taxes etc., will able made simpler speedier thus boosting overall efficiency levels equate savings time resources spent conducting these activities.

Finally taking into account implications inflation means constantly reevaluating how much need charging citizens ensure sufficient return covering cost providing goods services yet still remain within limits acceptable taxation model adopted which becomes particularly important longer-term investments concerned since value money diminish over time necessitating higher rates return even investment remains same throughout given duration

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