The United States Taxation System

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

Taxes have always been a contentious issue of debate in the United States; furthermore it is exacerbated by the specific philosophy of individuals, states, and regions. Too be clearer, nobody enjoys paying taxes, however it is the cost we pay for having civilization. Nevertheless, selfishness creeps in to many individuals who feel no particular benefit. Taxes have a real way of polarizing many people from different socio-economic backgrounds, because a tax is inexorably linked to a person’s belief-system. For instance, in the context of social welfare policy liberals are inclined to feel that the tax-burden should be heaped on individuals who have benefited the most from “the system”. On the other hand, we have conservatives who feel they did not receive any support, and all that is necessary is hard work and perseverance to succeed. I am not suggesting either one is correct; it is only a simple illustration to show the relation between pocketbook and personal belief. I hope studying the tax structures of New Jersey and Alabama will give me insight they both reconcile their political beliefs with their individual tax structures.

Although taxes are inevitable, the way states tax their citizen may be vastly different. I compared two states in order to understand the contrast and comparison between their state’s tax system. I chose to research the tax systems of Oregon and Florida. Oregon and Florida are two states that are distinct from each other not only in location but in their state’s tax system as well. Oregon is heavily dependent on a personal income tax, however, Oregon is not dependent on sales tax by all means. On the other hand, Florida is highly reliant on sales tax, however, Florida holds no need for a tax on personal income. Ultimately, these two states are gaining enough taxes for them to continue to survive. This does not mean, however, that both

Tax deductions, credits, special rates and homeowner deductions will allow the richest 20 percent of Americans to receive more than half of the $900 billion in tax benefits in 2013 (CBO). America does not treat all sources of earnings equally. Currently, the American tax code’s approach to income tax progressivity is focused on economic models in which labor is the only source of income. Since the upper class often accumulates large quantities of wealth through assets and capital, the tax code lacks progressivity. With the omission of the refundable earned income tax credit, the American tax code perpetuates inequality by offering tax benefits that solely benefit the

In America, we enjoy freedoms that we often take for granted. We have the power to decide things for ourselves, such as our leaders, our rights, and our liberties. We have the ability to debate and evaluate the effectiveness and the relevance of a law or bill, and we must use this power when it comes to the methods of taxation. Currently, the US uses a progressive income tax as its means to raise revenue. Deborah Lee and Richard A. Grant, in “Counterpoint: Expanding Sales Taxes Helps the Rich, Hurts the Poor,” believe that a progressive income tax is the fairest and most constructive ways to fund the government, and that such a tax benefits the poor more than a sales tax.

In the article, “The US Tax System: Who Really Pays” by Stephen Moore, he justifies his belief that there is little to no correlation between economic mobility and equality. Moore delivers his reasoning by contradicting relatively popular statements where some are virtually untrue and others are merely common opposing viewpoints. However, in the end Moore concludes his argument with the belief that raising the taxes on the wealthy would not help the poor’s income mobility, which I support one hundred percent.

The issue of federal income tax policy has been one of hot debate and controversy for many years. Discussions and arguments on the issue have been presented on the floors of Congress, in the United States Supreme Court, used by politicians as political platforms, broadcasted in televised debates, and discussed around the dinner table of American families of various socioeconomic backgrounds for years. The Federal Government of the United States of America, like any governing body whether it be at a national, state, or local level, works (for lack of a better word) to generate revenue to make possible the funding of many public programs and services and repayment of national debt. Of course, the easiest

The wealth gap has been a huge factor in society for a long time, as the vast majority of the wealth is held by the richest quintile of the population. Fair taxes on these affluent individuals and powerful corporations result in better economic equality for the lower class, seeing as tax revenues that are, “used to finance a public good perfectly accessible to everybody… [have] an equalizing effect on the distribution of welfare” (Schwodiauer and Wenig 59). Redistributing massive sums of money that were previously occupied by the upper class down to citizens living off much lower salaries actually has the chance to increase prosperity as a whole: by increasing welfare and lowering the unemployment rate, all citizens have the necessary means to succeed. With better redistribution of wealth that stems from higher taxes, the five quintiles of wealth that citizens are separated into would be much closer together, meaning none of these quintiles are left behind. The International Monetary Fund examined international financial statistics drawn from the United Nations University World Income Inequality Database, showing tax rates on different classes since 1981. These statistics showed that, according to the Fraser Institute, taxes on the highest class dropped from 52.7% to 31.3%—more than 21%—in the following two decades; additionally, according to the American Enterprise Institute, corporate taxes dropped from 39.4% to 28.2% in the same time period (Weller and Rao 636). These lower tax rates are correlated with the immense wealth gap that currently exists, and these rates must be elevated once again to address economic

Throughout history, taxation on United States citizens has proven to be a necessary component of a growing economy as means of generating revenue for the federal budget. The federal budget funds the many government programs implemented to keep the disabled, elderly, and unemployed from falling bellow the poverty level. Unfortunately, this fund is not always available when catastrophic evens, such as an economic recession, deplete the revenue coming in and create a budget deficit. In order to regenerate money coming in and replace the deficit, the government calls on money gained from taxes. What happens when tax money is already appropriated to other programs? A tax reform. A tax increase has many times been the

The tax code, officially known as the Internal Revenue Code, is a major issue in today’s American society. There are many proponents of reforming our tax code who make the argument that we cannot just keep raising the “debt ceiling” and call it good. The opponents of tax reform argue that more and more taxes are needed to run the country. This paper will be looking at what elements of the American political system have influenced and shaped the tax code, and how changes in the tax code can compromise some of our constitutional ideals.

Throughout the past couple of decades, countless amounts of people have begun to wonder at which rate the rich should pay more in taxes. It is known to most Americans in society the rich earn more money they worked hard for, but the more you earn, the more taxes you should pay. The top one percent of wealthy American business owners, etc. have learned ways around paying their taxes through loopholes abusing the rights of equality. It 's not a secret that money causes greed and selfishness. The wealthy are less likely to help those who are in need of help. The poor are forced to go through difficulties when it comes to the financial aspect and have to worry when it comes to how their money is spent. This is unlike the rich however, because they 're paying the same amount of money as someone who’s substantially less than 3 them. With a stale economy right now daily living is hard on people that are in middle and lower class.

The tax system of the United States is as complicated as it gets. It is a system that has enough loopholes in which it benefits the wealthy over the less fortunate. The wealthiest people are especially aware of these loopholes so they take advantage of it and determine ways of cheating the system, instead of trying to make it fair for all different types of classes. With these tools to cheat the system, the middle-class and lower-class are more harshly penalized and hounded for their taxes than the wealthy - who get away with a lot more. All of this information and more is discussed in David Cay Johnston’s book Perfectly Legal. Johnston discusses how cheated the tax system really is and how just the lack of political backup can really cause

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).

The Federal Government relies predominately on the individual income tax, and federal income tax makes up more than 50 percent of the federal government’s revenue. Income taxes are paid by all those who earn income (Mikesell, 2011). It is essentially a bill from the federal and state governments for individual earnings through salaries and investment profits. Income tax is considered a progressive tax because the individual's financial obligation rises with the level of reportable income (Mikesell, 2011). Although income tax is the one of the most effective ways of raising revenue for the government, it is also one of the most controversial.

There are many things in today’s society more popular than the unpopular than taxation. The federal, state, and local governments impose taxes on income, property, retail sales, and commerce. In the United States, one of the agencies responsible for collecting taxes is known as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Taxes are typically collected on the basis of commercial transactions. Typically, most taxpayers understand that taxes are used to fund government programs and projects at the federal, state and local levels and can include police, schools and roadway repair to national security, international trade and support of the elderly (Raabe, Whittenburg, Sanders, & Gill, 2012). It shows that taxes do play an integral role in today’s society. With this in mind; taxes are generally viewed as a necessary evil.