1. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, I am wholly unable to figure out the amount of tax, and wrote to the Federal Commissioner of Revenue, may I ask that (the agency) let me know the amount of the balance due. When a friend of FDR was ordered to pay $420,000 in tax penalties, the President called the Commissioner within earshot of reporters and told him to cut the penalties to $3,000. One listener, journalist David Brinkley, recalled years later: Nobody seemed to think it was news or very interesting. Evaluate the Presidents comments and actions.

2. Consider all accessions to wealth that you had in the past year including any service that was provided to you without cost, or any debt of yours that was forgiven. Which of these items of income do you think belong on your tax return and which items do not?

3. The U.S. Constitution limits Congress ability to tax its citizens. Why do you think Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 required both representatives and direct taxes to be apportioned (that is, why are they linked together?) and why does the clause say that three fifths of all other Persons were to be included in determining the number of citizens within a State?