INTRODUCTION
Like Industries and Households, Federal, State, and Local Government agencies generate income and purchase goods and services. In IMPLAN, Government-related economic activities show up in the IMPLAN SAM in multiple places: Government Enterprises and Government Institutions (also known as Administrative Government).
In contrast to Government Enterprises, which earn a large portion of their revenue by way of payments for services provided and are treated as general IMPLAN Industries, Government Institutions’ activity is funded primarily through inter-institutional transfers (taxes, intergovernmental transfers, rents and royalties, etc). Government Institutions can also receive funds as a result of the sale of some Commodities, known as Institutional Commodity Production.
Government Institutions also purchase goods and services for final consumption (Final Demand). This Commodity demand is included in the IMPLAN SAM. However, because IMPLAN does not know how, where, or when Government Institutions will use this fiscal revenue, taxes paid are treated as leakage and do not continue to circulate in the regional economy, generating multiplier effects.
Read more about the IMPLAN SAM and the Government Institution Data Sources.
GOVERNMENT ENTERPRISES
Government Enterprises are reflected by IMPLAN Industries and represent government agencies that operate much like private sector firms, hiring labor and purchasing Intermediate Inputs to produce goods that are sold through markets. IMPLAN has 9 Government Enterprise Industries:
- Federal Government
- Postal Service
- Federal Electric Utilities
- Other Federal Government Enterprises
- State Government
- State Government Passenger Transport
- State Government Electric Utilities
- Other State Government Enterprises
- Local Government
- Local Government Passenger Transport
- Local Government Electric Utilities
- Other Local Government Enterprises
Read more about Government Enterprises in Special Industry Definitions.
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS / ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNMENT
Governmental agencies that do not operate like private sector firms are considered Institutions in IMPLAN. These are governmental bodies that are engaged in non-market driven activities (e.g., legislatures, police protection). These are also known as Administrative Government.
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTION REVENUE
A primary distinction between Government Enterprises and Government Institutions is that Government Enterprises are funded in large part by revenue for services provided, whereas Government Institutions are funded by taxes, intergovernmental transfers, rents and royalties, among others. Government Institutions can also earn revenue from producing and/or selling Commodities. This is known as Institutional Commodity Production. The section below summarizes the types of income received by Government Institutions.
Industry-Related Income
Government Institutions receive income from taxes paid on Industry Production. Taxes are categorized by the component of Industry Production.
Labor Income to Government: Includes both employee and employer contributions to social insurance, including payments from proprietors. Also known as payroll taxes.
OPI to Government: Includes the following:
- Current transfer payments from business to government consist of deposit insurance premiums, fines, fees such as regulatory and inspection fees, settlements received from tobacco companies, donations, and net insurance settlements paid to governments as policyholders.1
- Net income for government enterprises (i.e., government enterprise surplus less government enterprise subsidy).
- Rents and royalties.
TOPI to Federal Government: Includes excise taxes and customs duties. Excise taxes include gasoline, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, diesel fuel, air transport, crude oil windfall profits tax, among others.
TOPI to State and Local Government: Includes sales tax, property tax, motor vehicle license tax, severance tax, and other taxes. The property tax paid by TOPI includes payments from both Households and businesses. Since home-ownership is treated as an Industry, payment of real estate property taxes comes from the owner-occupied dwelling sector’s TOPI. Non-taxes consist of business licenses.
Inter-Institutional Transfers
Government Institutions receive income from other Institutions. The section summarizes the types of inter-institutional transfers that generate income for Government Institutions.
Households to Federal Government: Includes personal taxes (the primary component of which is Federal income tax) and personal transfers (which include fines and donations to government).
Households to State and Local Governments: Includes personal taxes, personal property taxes (taxes on high-value items such as cars or boats), and personal motor vehicle taxes, among others.
Intergovernmental Transfers: Payments between government accounts represent intergovernmental transfers. One type of intergovernmental transfer are Federal payments to State and Local governments including grants-in-aid (e.g. highway funds for interstates).
Government Institutional Sales
Government Institutions can also produce and/or sell Commodities. This is known as Institutional Commodity Production. Note that while the BEA denotes sales by Institutions as a negative purchase, IMPLAN treats it as a contribution to Commodity supply. Institution sales are reflected in the market share of a Commodity. Market Share refers to the portion of the total locally-produced supply of a Commodity that is produced by an individual Industry or Institution in the Study Area.
State and Local Government Sales: These are the goods and services sold by state and local Government Institutions. It includes hospital and health services, education, and other services.
Federal Sales: These are the goods and services sold by federal Government Institutions. It includes timber, lodging, and mineral leases.
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTION EXPENDITURES
Federal, state, and local Government Institutions are entities that create Final Demand in an economy. In other words, these Government Institutions purchase goods and services for immediate consumption (as opposed to purchasing them as Intermediate Inputs). As such, Government Institutions do not have Industry designations. They do, however, employ individuals. Because the employees of these Institutions earn Employee Compensation, which is part of an economy’s total Value Added (GDP), those earnings are accounted for in special payroll sectors in IMPLAN in order to obtain a full accounting of a region’s GDP. In IMPLAN, theses Industries start with an * and represent the payroll and Value Added of government employment.
The section below summarizes the types of expenditures made by Government Institutions.
Inter-Institutional Transfers
Government Institutions transfer income to other Institutions. The section below summarizes the types of inter-institutional transfers that are considered expenditures for Government Institutions.
Government to Households: Payments to households include net interest (on bonds and securities) and social benefits such as social security, veterans’ benefits, and SNAP payments among others.
Intergovernmental Transfers: Payments between government accounts represent intergovernmental transfers.
Commodity Demand
Government Institutions are part of Final Demand that consume Commodities and drive the local economy. The list of expenditures made by Government Institutions are referred to as Institutional Spending Patterns. The section below summarizes the Government Institution spending patterns in IMPLAN.
Federal Government Defense: The operational Spending Pattern of defense agencies which include the military services and Coast Guard. Goods and services purchased range from food for troops to missile launchers.
Federal Government Non-Defense: The operational Spending Pattern of all other Federal administrative agencies.
Federal Government Investment: The purchase of new construction and Capital Goods expenditures by all Federal government agencies.
State and Local Government Other Services: The operational spending pattern of all other divisions of administrative state and local government. This includes legislature, police, fire, prisons, etc. This does not include market driven (Government Enterprise) activities such as sewer, water, power, and public transportation.
State and Local Government Education: The operational spending pattern of all levels of public education, from elementary, high school, and higher education institutions.
State and Local Government Hospitals and Health Services: The operational spending pattern of all hospital and health-related services of administrative state and local government.
State and Local Government Investment: The purchase of new construction and capital goods expenditures by all levels of state and local government.
Factor of Production Demand
Finally, Government Institutions employ individuals to work for Federal or State and Local Government agencies. To account for the payroll associated with the Commodity Demand listed above, IMPLAN includes 8 Government Administrative Industries as bookkeeping elements. These include:
- Federal Government
- Military
- Non-Military
- State Government
- Education
- Hospitals and Health Services
- Other Services
- Local Government
- Education
- Hospitals and Health Services
- Other Services
In IMPLAN, theses Industries start with an * and represent the payroll and Value Added of government employment.
GOVERNMENT IN ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS
Government Enterprises operate much like private sector firms, hiring labor and purchasing other inputs to produce goods that are sold through markets. These Industries will generate economic effects like any other Industry analysis in IMPLAN.
Administrative government activities (e.g., legislatures, police protection) are not subject to local market forces (i.e., not driven by local demand); as such, they are held exogenous to the multiplier model. Administrative Government can either be modeled in IMPLAN as Industries, which will only represent the payroll/value added of government employment or as an Institution utilizing one of the Institutional Spending Patterns.
While the Commodity purchases of these Government Institutions are already represented in the SAM, the Administrative Government Industries are only included as a bookkeeping element to account for these institutions' payrolls. So while income earned by government employees are represented by these Industries, they do not include other Institutional Government expenditures. By definition, these Industries have no Intermediate Inputs and thus will not generate Indirect Effects. For these Industries, Employee Compensation or Employment should be used as Event values; not the operational value of the government as an Output value. When modeling an entire government program or budget, you will need to use the appropriate Institutional Spending Pattern associated with the budget activity.
As mentioned previously, Government Institutions primarily receive income revenue in the form of taxes. This transfer of funds from the Government is reflected in the IMPLAN SAM. However, because IMPLAN does not know how, where, or when the Government will use this fiscal revenue, taxes paid are treated as leakage in an analysis and do not continue to circulate in the regional economy, generating multiplier effects.
This is also true for market shares of Commodity Supply allocated to Institutions. Any demand met through Institutional Commodity Production (sales) in an analysis will not be modeled as continuing to circulate through the Region’s economy, treating these portions as a leakage. That said, because different levels of Government have been incorporated in the SAM, every analysis in IMPLAN will provide detailed tax Results.
In principle, the tax impact report captures all tax revenue in the study area across all levels of Government that exist in that study area for the specific Industries and Institutions affected by an event or group of events. In IMPLAN, users can view tax Results at the following levels: Federal, State, County, Sub County Special Districts, and Sub County General. Sub County General includes city and township governments. Sub County Special District includes fire and public school districts. Read more about the Tax Impact Report in Taxes: Where’s the Tax? and the data sources and interpretation in Generation and Interpretation of IMPLAN’s Tax Report.
RELATED ARTICLES
Government Institution Data Sources and Methods
Generation and Interpretation of IMPLAN's Tax Report
1 https://www.bea.gov/help/glossary/business-current-transfer-payments-government-net
Written September 3, 2024