Income tax

Income tax is a tax paid on income. It is paid by employees and people who are self-employed. It may also be payable if you aren't working if, for example, you have an income from a pension or savings. Not all types of income are taxable and it will seldom be the case that all of your income is taxed. There is no minimum age at which a person becomes liable to pay income tax. What matters is the amount of your taxable income. If this is below a certain level, no tax is payable. Income is taxed at different percentage rates, depending on the amount of taxable income and the source of the income. These rates are announced in the Budget every year.

Property Taxes

A major source of revenue is the property tax — a tax on real property and tangible or intangible personal property. Real property includes land, buildings and anything else permanently attached to them. Tangible property is all tangible items of wealth not permanently attached to land or buildings, such as furniture, automobiles, the stock of goods in retail stores and clothing. Intangible personal property includes stocks, bonds, mortgages, and bank accounts.

The main problem with personal property as a source of revenue is that many items are not always brought to the attention of the tax assessor — the person who places value on property for tax purposes. Because of this, many things that should be taxed never are. Another problem is that some property is very hard to evaluate fairly.

Sales Taxes

A sales tax is a general tax levied on consumer purchases of nearly all products. It is added to the final price paid by the consumer.

For the most part, sales taxes are collected by individual merchants at the time of the sale and are turned over weekly or monthly to the proper government agency. Most states allow merchants to keep a small portion of what they collect to compensate for their time and book-keeping costs.

The sales tax generally is a very effective means of getting revenue for states and cities.

Exercise 9. Match the word combinations in column A with their equivalents in column B:

A	B
1). Джерело доходів 2). податок на додану вартість 3). стадія виробництва 4). суспільне протистояння 5). особиста власність 6). справедливо оцінити 7). податковий експерт 8). споживчі покупки 9). відповідна урядова установа 10). ефективний засіб 11). податок з продажу	a). sales tax b). tax assessor c). public opposition d). proper government agency e). consumer purchases f). stage of production g). value added tax h). personal property i). source of revenue j). evaluate fairly k). effective means

Exercise 10. Define the terms by definitions:

1. the person who places value on property for tax purposes

2. general tax imposed on consumer purchases

3. a tax on tangible or intangible personal possessions.

4. a tax paid every time when value is added to a good as it moves along the chain of production

5. increasing prices

6. a tax on revenue imposed at different percentage rates

Exercise 11. Fill in the table:

Name of tax	Subject of taxation	Advantages	Disadvantages