Shelling Out “Extra Money”
When tax season rolls around, you start hearing many complaints about how high taxes are and reasons why we have to pay them in the first place. Let us look a little bit at what taxes are and how they help run our country.
“To tax” comes from the Latin word “taxo” which means “I estimate”. This meaning is derived from “tango” which means “I touch”.
So to tax is to impose a financial charge upon an individual. This is done by the state in which a taxpayer lives.
When you do not pay your taxes, it is a crime that is punishable by law. Not only do we have state taxes in the United States of America, but we also have federal taxes.
Everyone living in this country is responsible to pay their taxes every year. The amount that you owe is dependent on where you live, what kind of job you have, how many children you have, and how much money was already taken out of your paychecks the previous year for different taxes.
Taxes are defined as, “A pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government and is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution imposed by the government.” Otherwise, who would voluntarily pay taxes on anything?
In many states when you go shopping, there is a sales tax on what you buy. For example, if the sign reads $1.99 for a loaf of bread, you can expect to pay a dollar and ninety-nine cents plus around six percent on top of that.
Some states like Nevada do not have sales tax. So when you go shopping for that $1.99 loaf of bread, all you will have to pay is $1.99.
What are some of the other ways that we are taxed? Politicians constantly argue over the method of taxation and how we should be taxed as well as how the taxes should be spent by local and federal governments.
Have you ever had a policeman pull you over for breaking a law while driving? Or have you paid a fee for utilities provided by local governments?
These are a couple of examples of monetary “transfers to the government” which some cialis cheap people define as taxes. Governments also obtain money by printing money, contributions to public universities and museums, and confiscating wealth.
Economists have a slightly different definition of what taxes are. They believe that taxes are a transfer of funds from private to public sectors on a basis of predetermined criteria that is non-penal.
In the United States, we have the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect taxes every year. You would find similar agencies in other countries that do the same thing such as Canada’s “Canada Revenue Agency” or the UK’s “HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs).
If any individual is found guilty of not paying taxes, they are subject to fines and/or incarceration for failure to do so. The fine can end up costing you more than it would have cost originally if you paid your taxes in the first place.
So what are these taxes used for? Do we ever see this money again or does the government use it all up?
The federal income tax is used to pay for things such as; social programs, law enforcement, national defense, and interest on the national debt. Considering how high our country is in debt, the interest is quite large.
State income taxes help pay for police and fire departments, public education, and public parks and roads. It is a lot easier to see how you the money you paid to your state influence the area in which you live.
A couple of other taxes like social security and Medicare are taken out of your paycheck every month to help pay for many things as Brand Viagra well. That money is used to help people who are 65 years and older pay for medical care after they retire and providing benefits to people with disabilities.
We may not all agree on how much we have to pay in taxes or what that money is used for, but I think we can all agree that we need to have taxes. And we need to be honest with how we pay them.
Author Bio: Jack R. Landry has worked since 1988 as a tax attorney. He has written hundreds of articles about finding a Tax attorney Bakersfield.
Contact Info:
Jack R. Landry
JackRLandry@gmail.com
http://www.TaxCrisisInstitute.com
Category: Finance/Taxes
Keywords: Tax attorney Bakersfield