9. Say whether these statements are true or false and if they are

false say why:

1. A proportional tax imposes the same percentage rate of taxation on everyone. 2. A progressive tax imposes a higher percentage rate of taxation on higher incomes. 3. A regressive tax imposes a low percentage rate of taxation on low incomes. 4. A sales tax is a general tax levied on essentials only. 5. It is collected by special government agencies. 6. Tangible property is all items of wealth not permanently attached to land or buildings. 7. Intangible property includes stocks, bonds, mortgages, and bank accounts. 8. Every item of personal property is taken into account by the tax assessor. 9. The evaluation of property doesn’t present a problem.

X. Answer the following questions:

1. What types of taxes are there in the United States? 2. What is a proportional (progressive, regressive) tax? Give examples. 3. What is a sales tax? 4. What does real property include? 5. What is the main problem with personal property as a source of revenue?

XI. Translate into English:

1. У Сполучених Штатах є три типи податків: пропорційний, прогресивний та регресивний. 2. Податок з продажу — це загальний податок, який накладається майже на всі споживчі товари. 3. Більшість штатів дозволяє продавцям залишати невелику частку того, що вони зібрали, щоб компенсувати час та бухгалтерські витрати. 4. Основне джерело доходу — це податок на власність. 5. Нерухомість — це земля, будівлі та все, що постійно перебуває там. 6. Податковий асесор — це людина, яка оцінює майно з метою його оподаткування.

XII. Speak about the types of taxes in the usa using the following

words and word-combinations:

proportional/progressive/regressive tax; percentage rate of taxation; total income; high/low incomes; yearly income; sales taxes; final price; at the time of the sale; to impose; consumer purchases; government agency; to compensate one’s time and book-keeping costs; property tax; tangible or intangible personal property; tax assessor.

Reading drills

1. Practise the pronunciation of the following words:

a) stress the first syllable:

standard, yield, revenue, clarity, benefit, justly, staff, taxpayer, measure, spending, final, finally, fair, fairness, suffer, income;

b) stress the second syllable:

criterion, criteria, effective, efficiency, collect, enforcement, administer, impose, ability, proportion, discomfort, taxation, derive, distribute, distributing, require, design, avoid, convenience.

Text B

In order to have an effective tax system, government must have criteria or standards. One such criterion is that a tax yields enough revenue.

A second criterion is clarity. Tax laws should be written so that both the taxpayer and tax-collector can understand them. This is not an easy task but people seem to be more willing to pay taxes¹, when they understand them. A third criterion is ease of administration. A tax should be easy to collect. It should not require a large enforcement staff, and it should be designed so that citizens find it hard to avoid. This criterion also includes convenience and efficiency. That is the tax should be administered at the lowest possible cost. A final criterion is fairness. Taxes should be imposed justly. However, this is hard to do because people do not always agree about what is or is not fair when it comes to taxes².

In general taxes are based chiefly on two principles: the Benefit Principle³ and the Ability-to-Pay Principle⁴.

The Benefit Principle of taxation is based on two ideas. First, those who benefit from government services should be the ones to pay for them. Second, people should pay taxes in proportion to the amount of services or benefits they receive.

The Ability-to-Pay Principle of taxation says that people should be taxed according to their ability to pay, no matter what benefits or services they receive. This principle is based on three things. First it is not possible to measure benefits, derived from government spending. Second, people with higher incomes suffer less discomfort than people with lower incomes even if they pay higher taxes. Finally, the only means most people have of paying taxes is the income they earn. Since the benefits of government services to individuals are hard to measure, the other basis for distributing taxes is income.