Exercise 8. Work in pairs. Translate the following two texts into Ukrainian. Use Vocabulary 3-4 and Exercises 3A^4A in case of difficulties.

Text 3

The Federal personal income tax is progressive. The corporate income tax is probably progressive. General sales, excise, payroll, and property taxes tend to be regressive.

Taxes do not always stick where the government levies them. Some taxes can be shifted among various parties in the economy. It is therefore necessary to locate the final resting place or incidence of the major types of taxes.

The incidence of the personal income tax generally falls on the individual upon whom the tax is levied; little chance exists for shifting. But there might be exceptions to this. Individuals and groups who can effectively control the price of their labor services may be able to shift a part of the tax. For example, doctors, dentists, lawyers, and other profes­sional people who can readily increase their fees may do so because of the tax. Unions might regard personal incomes taxes as part of the cost of living and, as a result, bargain for higher wages. If they are successful, they may shift a portion of the tax from workers to employers who, by then increasing prices, shift the wage increase to the public. Gener­ally, however, most experts conclude that the individual upon whom the tax is initially levied bears the burden of the personal income tax. The same ordinarily holds true of payroll and inheritance taxes.

Text 4

We have already suggested that the incidence of the corporate income tax is much less certain. The traditional view has it that a firm which is currently charging the profit- maximizing price and producing the profit-maximizing output will have no reason to change price or output when a corporate income tax is imposed. That price and output combination which yields the greatest profit before the tax will still be the most prof­itable after government takes a fixed percentage of the firm’s profits in the form of income taxes. According to this view, the company’s stockholders (owners) must bear the incidence of the tax in the form of lower dividends or a smaller amount of retained earnings. On the other hand, some economists argue that the corporate income tax is shifted in part to consumers through higher prices and to resource suppliers through lower prices. In modern industry, where a small number of firms may control a market, producers may not be in the profit-maximizing position initially. The reason? By fully exploiting their market position currently, monopolistic firms might elicit adverse pub­lic opinion and governmental censure. Hence, they may await such events as increases >n tax rates or wage increases by unions to provide an “excuse” or rationale for price ’ncreases with less fear of public criticism.

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