Essay On Taxation In America

The current tax policy in the United States is very confusing and it is very costly for our government to administer it. It is in the best interest of our country and its citizens to revise or replace our current tax policy.

One brother has 4 cookies. Another brother has 2 cookies. The brother with 4 cookies did 2x the work to get these cookies. Big brother come along and takes 3 of the first brother’s cookies but only 1 of the second because it’s only fair they have the same amount. How does the first brother feel? This analogy shows the current progressive system of tax and one reason it is flawed and unfair. If America had a flat tax it would leave the first brother with 3 cookies and the second with 1 and 1/2. Sound more fair? This is why America should have a modified flat tax system because it is more fair to the people, it will promote economic growth, and it will make paying taxes easier.

The federal and state governments provide the American citizens with all of the basic necessities within our communities and society that is taken for granted. Programs responsible for assistance in times of need, providing a quality standard of living, and maintaining the strongest military in the world costs incomprehensible amounts of money and could never exist without taxes from the American people. Taxes are payments made by individuals and businesses to support the government and its services. The constitution grants that congress “shall have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises and to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the people”. Taxes paid by Americans redistribute

Residents pay less in taxes than the states that have a state tax. All states must generate revenue and they do so through various taxes including income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes, just to name a few. (Longley) Texas has a state sales tax rate of 6.25%, but once you add in taxes from counties, cities, transit, and special purpose districts, the tax rate reaches 8.25%. (Texas)

Business taxes can have a huge impact on the profitability of businesses and the amount of business investment. Taxation is a very important factor in the financial investment decision-making process because a lower tax burden allows the company to lower prices or generate higher revenue, which can then be paid out in wages, salaries and/or dividends. Business taxes include, Federal Income Tax; a tax levied by a national government on annual income, Payroll Tax; a tax an employer withholds and/or pays on behalf of their employees based on the wage or salary of the employee, Unemployment Tax; a federal tax that is allocated to unemployment agencies to fund unemployment assistance for laid-off workers, and Sales Tax; a tax imposed by the government at the point of sale on retail goods and services. Sales tax is based on a percentage of the selling prices of the goods and services. Consumers pay sales taxes, but effectively, business pay them since the tax increases consumer’s costs and causes them to buy less.

Taxes is when the state takes a percentage of the money you make to help the community or the state. Also one reason we get taxed is to pay off the government workers. Another reason we get taxed is to pay for the public buildings and public roads we use like libraries, schools, and highways. Finally another reason we get taxed is to help the poor or less unfortunate also to help an organization.

There could have been outside elements that could have swayed Bush or Obama into extending the tax cuts but private interests were clearly involved to allow this to continue. Over the past couple of years, the government is faced with shut down because of law of funds and debt but still continue to allow the hyper wealthy and large conglomerates to continue to reap immense profits without paying their fair share.

The Bible unequivocally commands believers in Christ to submit to the human authorities that God has placed over us. One facet of this submission to authority involves dutifully paying our taxes. Indeed, Paul enjoins, "For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed" (Romans 13:6-7). Because God's Word never changes, this tenet undoubtedly still applies to every follower of Christ living in America today. While I do believe that we as Christians must faithfully pay our taxes due to the government

Taxation is an issue that has plagued the United States even prior to the founding of the

The nation had few taxes in its early history. From 1791 to 1802, the United States government was supported by internal taxes on distilled spirits, carriages, refined sugar, tobacco and snuff, property sold at auction, corporate bonds, and slaves. The high cost of the War of 1812 brought about the nation 's first sales taxes on gold, silverware, jewelry, and watches. In 1817, however, Congress did away with all internal taxes, relying on tariffs on imported goods to provide sufficient funds for running the government.

There is an issue that has plagued the United States even prior to the founding of the nation. That issue is fair taxation. While the American Colonists were being taxed unfairly without parliamentary representation, average modern Americans are being taxed unfairly without legal representation. Some hold the belief that the progressive tax code employed by the United States to be fair as the wealthy pay a higher marginal tax rate. The operative word there being marginal. As the upper class typically has a much lower effective tax rate since they are able to afford tax attorneys who are able to find many deductions that average citizens are unaware of. Mitt Romney is a prime example of low effective rates of taxation. According to CNN Money, Mitt Romney made twenty-one million dollars in one year, but only paid an effective rate of fifteen percent, which is much lower than the rate he should be paying. The progressive tax system is one that is littered with loopholes, but those are only known to those with the means to search them out as the federal tax code spans seventy-thousand of pages of convoluted text. Not even the highest paid tax accountants will ever read anywhere near the full volume of tax laws. By the tax code being as long as it is, few are able to reap the full benefits of the tax code. The level of complicated text is not the only major issue with the federal tax code.

Rome, Athens, and Egypt were definitely known to have general sales taxes. The Romans were responsible for taking sales taxes to the rest of Europe. It included France and Spain. From 1342 until the 18th century, Spain had a national sales tax in place. The rates ultimately reached 10 to 15 percent. The development of modern state sales taxes goes back to the depression era. Kentucky had the first levied tax. It was based exclusively on retailers. In 1930, the initial tax passed. It was progressive, but was replaced in 1934 with a three percent flat rate tax. Then, it was eliminated in 1936. In 1960, the current Kentucky sales tax was adopted. In 1930, Commerce Clearinghouse credits Mississippi with the first sales tax. The District of Columbia and Forty-five states currently impose sales taxes. Twenty-four of the fifty states first levied the tax during the 1930s, six states levied the tax during 1940s, five states levied the tax during the 1950s, and eleven states levied the tax during the 1960s. Vermont was the last state to impose a sales tax in 1969. Oregon, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware and Alaska do not levy general sales taxes. Arkansas adopted general sales taxes in 1935.

The American people are in the presence of the highest tax burden in American history; taxes represent a larger share of the U.S. economy than ever before (Armey 2). After World War II, the average family sent only about three percent of its income to Washington. The same family today gives 24 percent of its income to the federal tax collector (Mitchell 1, 9). Once state and local taxes are added to the federal take, taxes make up the biggest slice of the average family's budget. As Daniel Mitchell of the Heritage Foundation shows in Figure 1, the typical American family now pays more of its budget in taxes than it spends on food, clothing, transportation and shelter combined (Mitchell 1, 10).

A major source of revenue enhancements for states across the US is the sales tax, which taxes goods and services that are being sold. One member of the family of sales taxes is the Value-added Tax. The VAT increases the value of the product being produced by taxing each stage of its production or distribution (Anastakis, N.D.). The key distinction between the VAT and the sales and use tax is, the VAT is applied in each stage, whereas sales tax only taxes one stage of activity from the manufacturer to the retailer (“Difference between VAT and Sales Tax,” 2011). Although the VAT is not implemented in the United States, it remains a popular tax system in over 150 countries around the world, including in the European Union

There are two things in life that are certain: death and taxes. In today's world, the majority of our government's income comes from taxation. A tax is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution imposed by government (Mikesell, 2011). Taxes are an amount of money collected from citizens, and they are used to provide public goods and services to benefit our communities. Taxes are amounts established in a political process of structured laws to determine how the collective cost of government services will be distributed among elements of the market economy. The two most important tax policies are the level of taxation, or how much taxes should be, and the structure of the system, or how revenue is to be raised