Учебно-методическое пособие по обучению профессиональному общению. Коровина Н.А - 11 стр.

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       Americans often say that there are only two things a person can                1. Everyone knows that taxation is necessary in a modern state.
be sure of in life: death and taxes. Americans do not have a corner on        By means of taxation we pay for things that we need. Taxes consist of
the “death” market, but many people feel that the USA leads the world         money which people pay to support their government. But though
with the worst taxes.                                                         everyone knows that taxation is necessary different people have vari-
       Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their           ous ideas about how taxes should be arranged. Should each person
government. There are generally three levels of government in the US          have to pay a certain amount of money to the government each year?
– federal, state, city. Therefore there are three types of taxes.             Or should there be a tax on things that people buy and sell? If the first
       Salaried people who earn more than four to five thousand dol-          kind of taxation is used, should everyone pay the same, whether he is
lars per year must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the fed-     rich or poor? If the second kind of taxation is preferred, should every-
eral government. The percentage varies for individuals. It depends on         thing be taxed equally?
their salaries. The federal government has two – level income tax that                2. Taxes can be divided into direct taxes such as income tax,
is 15 % and 28 %. $17,850 is the cutoff the tax rate is 15 % below            property tax, tax on natural resources; and indirect taxes (value-added
$17,850 and 28 % above. With the high cost of taxes, people are not           tax, custom or ‘duty’, tax on investments and others.) In most of coun-
very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due.                       tries income tax is arranged in such way that poorest people pay noth-
       The second tax is for the state government of New York, Cali-          ing and the percentage of tax grows greater as the tax payer’s income
fornia or any other 47 states. Some states have an income tax similar         grows. But countries with direct taxation nearly always have indirect
to that of the federal government, of course the percentage for the state     taxation too. Many things imported into the country have to be taxed.
is lower. Other states have a sales tax, which is a percentage charged        Of course, it is the men and women who buy these imported things in
to any item which you buy in that state. For example, a person might          the shops who really have to pay the duties in the form of higher
want to buy a package of gum for 25 cents if there is a sales tax of          prices. In some countries there is a tax on things sold in the shop. If the
eight % in that state. Then the cost of the gum is 27 cents. This figure      most necessary things are taxed, a lot of money is collected, but the
includes the sales tax. Some states use income tax in addition to sales       poor people suffer most. If unnecessary things like jewels and fur
tax to raise their revenues. The state tax laws are diverse and confus-       coats are taxed, less money is obtained, but the taxes are fair as the
ing.                                                                          rich pay them. Probably this last kind of indirect tax on unnecessary
       The third tax is for the city, this tax comes in two forms: prop-      things together with a direct tax on incomes which is low for the poor
erty tax (residents who own a home have to pay taxes on it) and excise        and high for the rich is the best arrangement. Russia has both direct
tax, which is levied on vehicles in a city. The cities utilize these funds    and indirect taxation too.
for education, police and fire departments, public works (including                   3. The Russian modern tax system law was enacted on the 27th
street repairs, water and sanitation) and municipal building.                 of December in 1991. According to it there are three levels of taxes in
       Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they         Russia. There are republican taxes, federal taxes and local taxes. Fed-
are working one day each week just to pay their taxes. People always          eral taxes include a value-added tax, tax on investment. Federal taxes
complain about taxes. They often protest that the government misuses          are chartered by Parliament of RF. To Republican taxes we refer the
their tax dollars. They say that it spends too much on useless and un-        same taxes of the subjects of RF and also tax on natural resource, for-
practical programs. Although Americans have conflicting views on              est tax, tax on property of enterprises. Local taxes are not compulsory
many issues- religions, racial, cultural, political – they tend to agree on   for the whole territory of Russia. The local taxes are real estate tax, ad
subject: taxes are too high.                                                  tax, wholesaling tax and others. The local taxes are chartered by local

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