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| Disposable Income |
Disposable incomeDisposable income is the amount of an individual's total income left after taxes, plus any transfer payments (grants) received from the government or elsewhere. This income is available to be "disposed of" as either spending or saving.
Another concept that is often confused with disposable income is discretionary income. This is equal to disposable income minus the cost of the fixed expenses of life (such as rent/mortgage, food, car payments, insurance, etc.). It is income that can be saved or spent on goods and services wanted, not needed. Unfortunately, the definition of discretionary income is fuzzier than that of disposable income, making it harder to measure.
See also
- Household consumption expenditures
External link
- [http://www.disposableincome.net/ A simple discretionary income calculator] -- even though this says it's measuring "disposable income," using the economist's language, it's discretionary income.
Category:Taxation
Category:Income
IncomeIncome, generally defined, is the money that is received as a result of the normal business activities of an individual or a business. For example, most individuals' income is the money they receive from their regular paychecks.
In business and accounting, income (also known as profit or earnings) is, more specifically, the amount of money that a company earns after paying for all its costs. To calculate a company's income, it starts with its amount of revenue, deducts all costs, including such things as employees' salaries and depreciation, and the number that results is its income, which may be a negative number. This money is typically reinvested in the business, paid in corporate tax and used to pay the owners (the shareholders) a dividend.
All public companies are required to provide financial statements on a quarterly basis. The statement of income is an important part of this. Some companies also provide a more rosy financial report of their income, with pro forma reporting, or, EBITDA reporting. Pro forma income is an estimate of how much the company would have earned without including the negative effect of exceptional "one-time events", supposedly in order to show investors how much money the company would have made under normal circumstances if these exceptional, one-time events had not occurred. Critics charge that, in most cases, the "one-time events" are normal business events, such as an acquisition of another company or a write off of a cancelled project or division, and that pro forma reporting is an attempt to mislead investors by painting a rosy financial picture. Besides that, when discussing results with analysts and shareholders CEOs and CFOs have a tendency to do even more "hypothetical accounting". EBITDA stands for "earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation", and is also criticised for being an attempt to mislead investors. Warren Buffett has criticised EBITDA reporting, famously asking, "Does management think the tooth fairy pays for capital expenditures?"
It is common for some other companies, such as real estate investment trusts, to present reports using a standard called FFO, or funds from operations. Like EBITDA reporting, FFO ignores depreciation and amortization. This is widely accepted in the industry, as real estate values tend to increase rather than decrease over time, and many data sites report earnings per share data using FFO.
In economics, income is the constraint to unlimited consumer purchases. Consumers can purchase a limited number of goods. The basic equation for this is I = Px × x + Py × y, where Px is the price of good x, x is the quantity of good x, and I is the income (Py and y are similar to Px and x). If you need to examine more than two goods, you can add more on. This equation tells us two things. First, if you buy one more of good x, you get Px/Py less of good y. Here, Px/Py is known as the rate of substitution. Secondly, if the price of x changes, then the rate of substitution changes. This causes demand curves to slope down.
The distribution of income within a society can be measured by the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient.
National income, measured by statistics such as the Net National Income (NNI), measures the total income of all individuals in the economy. For more information see measures of national income and output.
See also
- Income statement
- Income tax
- Income trust
- Poverty line
- Profit
- Per capita income
- Total personal income
External links
- [http://money.cnn.com/markets/IRC/warnings.html Markets & Stocks: Investor Research Center - Earnings Warnings]
- [http://whatisthepay.com/ What salaries and pay is by job and market.]
category:Income
TaxA tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e.g., tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). Taxes could also be imposed by a subnational entity.
Taxes may be part of a direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as corvée labor. In modern, capitalist taxation systems, taxes are levied in money, but in-kind and corvée taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their functional equivalents.
The means of taxation, and the uses to which the funds raised through taxation should be put, are a matter of hot dispute in politics and economics, so discussions of taxation are frequently tendentious.
Public finance is the field of political science / economics that deals with taxation.
A history of taxation
Political authority has been used to raise capital throughout history. In many pre-monetary societies, such as the Incan empire, taxes were owed in labor (see Mita). Taxation in labour was the basis of the Feudal system in medieval Europe. King Solomon of the Old Testament pointed to the need for taxes to be applied for civil purposes (1 Kings 4:7; 9:15; 12:4), and these amounts were increased during times of foreign occupation.
In more sophisticated economies such as the Roman Empire, tax farming developed, as the central powers could not practically enforce their tax policy across a wide realm. The tax farmers were obligated to raise large sums for the government, but were allowed to keep whatever else they raised. Many Christians have understood the New Testament to support the payment of taxes, through Jesus's words "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's". It is even recognized as a duty whether as a "telos" on merchandise or travelers ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2017:25;&version=31 Matthew 17:25]), an annual "phoros" on property tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Luke%2020:22;23:2;&version=31 Luke 20:22;23:2]), a "kensos" or poll tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:17;&version=31 Matthew 22:17], [http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Mark%2012:14;&version=31 Mark 12:14]), or the tribute money of a temple-tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2017:24-27;&version=31 Matthew 17:24-27]). Other Christians, such as Christian anarchists, hold a contrary interpretation.
There were certain times in the Middle Ages where the governments did not explicitly tax, since they were self supporting, owning their own land and creating their own products. The appearance of doing without taxes was however illusory, since the government's (usually the Crown's) independent income sources depended on labour enforced under the feudal system, which is a tax exacted in kind.
Many taxes were originally introduced to fund wars and are still in place today, such as those raised by the American government during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the telephone tax instigated at the start of World War I (War Tax Revenue Act of 1914). Income tax was first introduced into Britain in 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars and into Canada in 1917 as a "temporary" tax under the Income War Tax Act to cover government expenses resulting from World War I.
The current income tax in America was set up by Woodrow Wilson in 1913. It was called The Federal Income Tax and was deducted from incomes at rates varying from 1-7%. But, since then, the American Tax Code has been modified and new taxes have been added, especially over the World War I and II periods. Since World War I, the American Tax Code has increased in size four-fold.
Purposes and effects of taxation
Funds provided by taxation have been used by states and their functional equivalents throughout history to carry out the functions such as:
- military defense,
- enforcement of law and public order,
- protection of property,
- redistribution of wealth,
- economic infrastructure — roads, legal tender, enforcement of contracts, etc.,
- public works,
- the operation of government itself.
Most modern governments also use taxes to fund welfare and public services, such as:
- education systems,
- healthcare systems,
- pensions for the elderly,
- unemployment benefits
- energy, water and waste management systems,
- public transportation.
Colonial states and moderning states have also used cash taxes to draw or force reluctant subsistence producers into cash economies.
Governments use different kind of taxes and vary the tax rates:
- to distribute the tax burden between individuals or classes of the population involved in taxable activities, such as business,
- to redistribute resources between individuals or classes in the population. Historically, the nobility were supported by taxes on the poor; modern social security systems are intended to support the poor, the disabled or the retired by taxes on those who are still working,
- to influence the macroeconomic performance of the economy (the government's strategy for doing this is called its fiscal policy) (see also tax exemption),
- to modify patterns of consumption or employment within an economy, by making some classes of transaction more or less attractive.
The resource taken from the public through taxation is always somewhat greater than the amount which can be used by the government. The difference is called compliance cost, and includes for example the labour cost and other expenses incurred in complying with tax laws and rules.
The collection of a tax in order to spend it on a specified purpose, for example collecting a tax on alcohol to pay directly for alcoholism rehabilitation centres, is called hypothecation. This practice is often disliked by finance ministers, since it reduces their freedom of action. Some economic theorists consider the concept to be intellectually dishonest since in reality money is fungible. Furthermore, it often happens that taxes or excises initially levied to fund some specific government programs are then later diverted to the government general fund. In some cases, such taxes are collected in fundamentally inefficient ways, for example highway tolls.
Some economists, especially neo-classical economists argue that all taxation distorts the market and results in economic inefficiency. They have therefore sought to identify the kind of tax system that would minimise this distortion. A theory is that the most economically neutral tax is a tax on land. A government's primary duty is to maintain and defend title to land, and therefore it should collect most of its revenues for this unique service. Since governments also resolve commercial disputes, especially in countries with common law, this doctrine is often used to justify a sales tax or value added tax. Others (e.g. libertarians) argue that most or all forms of taxes are immoral due to their involuntary (and therefore eventually coercive/violent) nature. The most extreme anti-tax view is anarcho-capitalism, in which the provision of all social services should be a matter of voluntary private contracts.
Tax rates
Taxes are most often levied as a percentage, called the tax rate, of a certain value, the tax base (how much income and assets one has, earns, spends, inherits, etcetera). An ad valorem tax is one where the tax base is the value of a good, service, or property. Sales taxes, tariffs, property taxes, inheritance taxes, and value added taxes are different types of ad valorem tax. An ad valorem tax is typically imposed at the time of a transaction (sales tax or value added tax (VAT)) but it may be imposed on an annual basis (property tax) or in connection with another significant event (inheritance tax or tariffs). An alternative to ad valorem taxation is an excise tax, where the tax base is the quantity of something, regardless of its price: for example, in the United Kingdom, a tax is collected on the sale of alcoholic drinks that is calculated by volume and beverage type rather than the price of the drink.
An important distinction when talking about tax rates is to distinguish between the marginal rate and the average rate. The average rate is the total tax paid divided by the total amount the tax is paid on, while the marginal rate is the rate paid on the next dollar of income earned. In a “progressive” tax system, these can be very different. For example, if income is taxed on a formula of 5% from $0 up to $49,999, 10% from $50,000 to $99,999, and 15% over $100,000, a taxpayer with income of $175,000 would pay a total of $18,750:
:((0.05
- 50,000) + (0.10
- 50,000) + (0.15
- 75,000))
:=18,750
His average rate would be 10.7%:
:(18,750/175,000)
:= 0.107
However, his marginal rate would be 15%.
“Flat”, “Progressive”, and “Regressive” taxation
An important feature of tax systems is whether they are "flat" (the total tax paid is constant over all income levels), “proportional” (the tax as a percentage of income is constant over all income levels), “regressive” (the tax as a percentage of income falls as income rises), or “progressive” (the tax as a percentage of income rises as income rises). Progressive taxes reduce the tax incidence of people with smaller incomes, as they shift the incidence disproportionately to those with higher incomes. In the United States, the popular press uses the term "flat tax" to refer to what is, technically, a proportional tax, and "poll tax" to refer to what is, technically, a flat tax.
Direct and indirect taxation
Taxes are sometimes referred to as direct or indirect. The meaning
of these terms can vary in different contexts, which can sometimes lead
to confusion. In economics, direct taxes refer to those taxes that
are collected from the people or organizations on whom they are ostensibly imposed. For
example, income taxes are collected from the person who earns the income.
By contrast, indirect taxes are collected from someone other than
the person ostensibly responsible for paying the taxes.
From whom a tax is collected is a matter of law. However, who pays the tax is determined by the market place and is found by comparing the price of the good (including tax) after the tax is imposed to the price of the good before the tax was imposed. For example, suppose the price of gas in the U.S., without taxes, were $2.00 per gallon. Suppose the U.S. government imposes a tax of $0.50 per gallon on the gas. Forces of demand and supply will determine how that $0.50 tax burden is distributed among the buyers and sellers. For example, it is possible that the price of gas, after the tax, might be $2.40. In such a case, buyers would be paying $0.40 of the tax while the sellers would be paying $0.10 of the tax.
In law, the terms may have different meanings. In US constitutional
law, for instance, direct taxes refer to poll taxes
and property taxes, which are based on simple existence or ownership. Indirect taxes are imposed on rights, privileges, and activities.
Thus, a tax on the sale of property would be considered an indirect tax,
whereas the tax on simply owning the property itself would be a direct tax.
The distinction can be subtle, but it is important under US law, since
the United States Constitution formerly required that direct taxes be apportioned according to population. That is, if one state had twice the population of another state, then the direct tax revenue from that state must be exactly twice that from the other state. In 1895, the
US Supreme Court interpreted
the income tax as a direct tax when applied to income from property,
and struck down the tax as a result. The federal government then had
no income tax until the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, which removed the apportionment requirement for income taxes.
Economics of taxation
Figure 1 indicates a good without any government interference. This good could represent anything from apples to zippers. At this equilibrium quantity Q1 of the good are sold at price P1. The consumer and producer surplus are both high.
Figure 2 shows the introduction of a very simple tax. The tax charges a flat fee whenever a consumer wishes to purchase the good. The price thus rises to P2, and since fewer consumers wish to purchase the good at the higher price, the quantity produced falls to Q2. The government receives the amount of the tax for each unit sold, and this amounts to the region shown in grey. This is the amount of revenue the government receives for this tax.
Note that in this situation the price of the good to consumers only increases by half the amount of the tax, the other half of the tax is borne by the producer. Thus both consumer and producer surpluses shrink by equal amounts. For many goods this is not the case. Who bears the cost of the tax is determined by the elasticity of the good. For inelastic goods like cigarettes, and gasoline almost all of the tax is paid by the consumer.
The tax is not a simple transfer of wealth from producers and consumers to government. A permanent loss of surplus occurs, shown in orange. This loss is often called dead weight loss which is a permanent loss to sociey as if some of the goods (Q1 to Q2) were destroyed.
However, because this model greatly simplifies the economics of taxation, governments must weigh many other factors when choosing a tax system. The size of the dead weight loss usually increases exponentially with regards to the size of the tax meaning a broad small tax (sales tax) would normally have less negative impact than a narrow large tax (taxing a particular good heavily).
Types of taxes
Income tax
Income tax is commonly a progressive tax because the tax rate increases with increasing income. For this reason, it is generally advocated by those who think that taxation should be borne more by the rich than by the poor, even to the point of serving as a form of social redistribution. Some critics characterize this tax as a form of punishment for economic productivity. Other critics charge that income taxation is inherently socially intrusive because enforcement requires the government to collect large amounts of information about business and personal affairs, much of which is considered proprietary and confidential.
The crucial invention permitting the reliable collection of high income taxes was direct withholding of taxes from payrolls by employers; this works because most people in modern societies are salaried workers. This reduces the perceived burden of the tax, because employees never handle the money. Direct withholding also discourages cheating, because it requires the collaboration of employers, and as there are fewer employers than employees, the government's enforcement efforts can be deployed more effectively. However, direct withdrawal also has some drawbacks: it puts part of the burden of processing taxes on the employer, and it also complicates matters when the employee is in a situation where he or she should pay significantly less or more than what is expected from its salary (because of tax-deductible expenses, or side revenues). Direct withholding is the method of collection of choice in most countries implementing income taxes, with the exception of France, where direct withholding is periodically discussed, but has so far not been implemented.
Where income tax is not collected at source, it may become easier to cheat by lying about one's affairs. The government may then require that employers report the amounts they pay to employees.
Income tax, in addition to income, generally takes into account a variety of factors. Certain expenses, such as work-related expenses, donations to charities etc..., may be tax-deductible: that is, they are subtracted from the taxable revenue. Investments in some impoverished areas or industrial sectors may be encouraged through tax breaks (reduced rates). Donations to charities may be partly subtracted from the tax, in an original form of subsidy. Because of various exemptions, rebates etc..., income tax codes tend to be complicated. In some countries such as the United States, individuals often hire the service of a tax accountant so as to find the best way to reduce their tax.
Income tax fraud is a problem in most, if not all, countries implementing an income tax. Either one fails to declare income, or declares nonexistent expenses. Failure to declare income is especially easy for non-salaried work, especially those paid in cash. Tax enforcement authorities fight tax fraud using various methods, nowadays with the help of computer databases. They may, for instance, look for discrepancies between declared revenue and expenses along time. Tax enforcement authorities then target individuals for a tax audit – a more or less detailed review of the income and tax-deductible expenses of the individual.
Income tax may be collected from legal entities (e.g., companies) as well as natural persons (individuals), although, in some cases, the income tax on legal entities is levied on a slightly different basis than the income tax on individuals and may be called, in the case of income tax on companies, a corporation tax or a corporate income tax.
:See also: Negative income tax.
Emergency tax
In the UK, emergency tax is a special tax code used by employers when the tax code of an employee is unknown. A person with this code may pay excessive tax until their true tax code is issued by the Inland Revenue. If excessive tax is paid, this will be refunded to the person by the Inland Revenue.
Retirement tax
Some countries with social security systems, which provide income to retired workers, fund those systems with specific dedicated taxes. These often differ from comprehensive income taxes in that they are levied only on specific sources of income, generally wages and salary (in which case they are called payroll taxes). A further difference is that the total amount of the taxes paid by or on behalf of a worker is typically considered in the calculation of the retirement benefits to which that worker is entitled. Examples of retirement taxes include the FICA tax, a payroll tax that is collected from employers and employees in the United States to fund the country's Social Security system; and the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) collected from employers and employees in the United Kingdom to fund the country's national insurance system.
These taxes are sometimes regressive in their immediate effect. For example, in the United States, each worker, whatever his or her income, pays at the same rate up to a specified cap, but income over the cap is not taxed. A further regressive feature is that such taxes often exclude investment earnings and other forms of income that are more likely to be received by the wealthy. The regressive effect is somewhat offset, however, by the eventual benefit payments, which typically replace a higher percentage of a lower-paid worker's pre-retirement income.
Capital gains tax
A capital gain tax is the tax levied of the profit realised upon the sale of an asset. In many cases, the amount of a capital gain is treated as income and subject to the marginal rate of income tax.
If such a tax is levied on inherited property then it can act as a de facto probate or inheritance tax.
Corporation tax
Corporation tax is a tax on corporate earnings (and often includes capital gains) of a company. Earnings are generally considered gross revenue less expenses. However, corporate expenses that relate to capital expenditures are rarely deducted in full (such as the entire cost of a company truck) and are often deducted over the useful life of the asset purchase. Generally, industrialized countries also use a regressive rate of tax upon corporate income.
See also: excess profits tax
Poll tax
A poll tax, also called a per capita tax, or capitation tax, is a tax that levies a set amount per individual. The earliest tax mentioned in the Bible of a half-shekel per annum from each adult Jew (Ex. 30:11-16) was a form of poll tax. Poll taxes are regressive, since they take the same amount of money (and hence, a higher proportion of income) for poorer individuals as for richer individuals. Poll taxes are difficult to cheat.
Excises
Unlike an ad valorem tax, an excise is not a function of the value the product being taxed. Excise taxes are based on the quantity, not the value, of product purchased. For example, in the United States, the Federal government imposes an excise tax of 18.4 cents per US gallon (4.86 ¢/L) of gasoline, while state governments levy an additional 8 to 28 cents per US gallon.
Purposes and effects of excises
Excises on particular commodities are frequently hypothecated. For example, a fuel excise is often used to pay for public transportation, especially roads and bridges and for the protection of the environment. A special form of hypothecation arises where an excise is used to compensate a party to a transaction for alleged uncontrollable abuse: for example, a blank media tax is a tax on recordable media such as CD-Rs, whose proceeds are typically allocated to copyright holders. Critics charge that such taxes tax blindly those who make legitimate and illegitimate usages of the products; for instance, a person or corporation using CD-R's for data archival should not have to subsidize the producers of popular music.
Excises (or exemptions from them) are also used to modify consumption patterns. For example, a high alcohol excise is used to discourage alcohol consumption, relative to other goods. This may be combined with hypothecation if the proceeds are then used to pay for the costs of treating illness caused by alcohol abuse. Similar taxes may exist on tobacco, pornography, etc..., and they may be collectively referred to as sin taxes. A carbon tax is a tax on the consumption of carbon-based non-renewable fuels, such as petrol, diesel-fuel, jet fuels and natural gas. The object is to reduce the release of carbon into the atmosphere. In the UK, vehicle excise duty is an annual tax on vehicle ownership.
Sales tax
Sales taxes are a form of excise levied when a commodity is sold to its final consumer. They are generally held to discourage retail sales. The question of whether they are generally progressive or regressive is a subject of much current debate. People with higher incomes spend a lower proportion of them, so a flat-rate sales tax will tend to be regressive. It is therefore common to exempt food, utilities and other necessities from sales taxes, since poor people spend a higher proportion of their incomes on these commodities, so such exemptions would make the tax more progressive. The classic way of cheating on sales tax is to ask a merchant or service provider for a cash discount. The merchant pockets the cash and writes off the merchandise to shrinkage and the state fails to get the tax.
Tariffs
An import or export tariff (also called customs duty or impost) is a charge for the movement of goods through a political border. Tariffs discourage trade, and they may be used by governments to protect domestic industries. A proportion of tariff revenues is often hypothecated to pay government to maintain a navy or border police. The classic way of cheating a tariff is smuggling.
Value added tax
A value added tax (sometimes called a goods and services tax - GST, as in Australia and Canada) applies the equivalent of a sales tax to every operation that creates value. To give an example, sheet steel is imported by a machine manufacturer. That manufacturer will pay the VAT on the purchase price, remitting that amount to the government. The manufacturer will then transform the steel into a machine, selling the machine for a higher price to a wholesale distributor. The manufacturer will collect the VAT on the higher price, but will remit to the government only the excess related to the "value added" (the price over the cost of the sheet steel). The wholesale distributor will then continue the process, charging the retail distributor the VAT on the entire price to the retailer, but remitting only the amount related to the distribution markup to the government. The last VAT amount is paid by the eventual retail customer who cannot recover any of the previously paid VAT. Economic theorists have argued that this minimises the market distortion resulting from the tax, compared to a sales tax. However, VAT is held by some to discourage production.
VAT was historically used when a sales tax or excise tax was uncollectible. For example, a 30% sales tax is so often cheated that most of the retail economy will go off the books. By collecting the tax at each production level, and requiring the previous production level to collect the next level tax in order to recover the VAT previously paid by that production level, the theory is that the entire economy helps in the enforcement. In reality, forged invoices and the like demonstrate that tax evaders will always attempt to cheat the system.
Property taxes
A property tax is usually levied on the value of property owned, usually real estate. Property taxes may be charged on a recurrent basis, or upon a certain event.
A common type of property tax is an annual charge on the ownership of real estate, where the tax base is the supposed value of the property. For a period of over 150 years from 1695 a window tax was levied in England, with the result that you can still see listed buildings with windows bricked up [http://www.absentiacerebra.com/Trips/UK/Pages/Image31.html] in order to save their owner's money. A similar tax existed in France, with similar results.
The two most common type of event driven property taxes are stamp duty, charged upon change of ownership, and inheritance tax, which is imposed in many countries on the estates of the deceased.
In contrast with a tax on real estate, a land value tax is levied only on the unimproved value of the land.
When real estate is held by a higher government unit or some other entity not subject to taxation by the local government, the taxing authority may receive a payment in lieu of taxes to compensate it for some or all of the foregone tax revenue.
Transfer taxes
Historically, in many countries, a contract needed to have a stamp affixed to make it valid. The charge for the stamp was either a fixed amount or a percentage of the value of the transaction. In most countries the stamp has been abolished but stamp duty remains. Stamp duty is levied in the UK on the purchase of shares and securities, the issue of bearer instruments, and certain partnership transactions. Its modern derivatives, stamp duty reserve tax and stamp duty land tax, are respectively charged on transactions involving securities and land. Stamp duty has the effect of discouraging speculative purchases of assets by decreasing liquidity. Taxes on currency transactions are known as Tobin taxes.
See also: transfer tax, stamp duty
Inheritance tax
Some believe that inheritance taxes do not have any harmful effect on the economy and may even be beneficial as they encourage consumer spending by the elderly. However, they are also believed to discourage productivity and to disrupt the continuity of family-owned businesses.
See also: allodial, death tax, estate tax, Pigovian tax
Wealth (net worth) tax
Main article: wealth (net worth) tax
Some countries' governments will require declaration of the tax payers' balance sheet (assets and liabilities), and from that exact a tax on net worth (assets minus liabilities), as a percentage of the net worth, or a percentage of the net worth exceeding a certain level. The tax is in place for both "natural" and in some cases legal "persons".
Personal property tax
In many jurisdictions (including many American states), there is a general tax levied periodically on residents who own personal property within the jurisdiction. Vehicle and boat registration fees are subsets of this kind of tax.
Usually, the tax is designed with blanket coverage but with large exceptions for obvious things like food and clothing. Household goods are exempt as long as they are kept or used within the household. However, any otherwise non-exempt object can lose its exemption if regularly kept outside the household. Thus, tax collectors often monitor newspaper articles for stories about wealthy people who have lent art to museums for public display, because the artworks have then become subject to personal property tax. And if an artwork had to be sent to another state for some touch-ups, it may have become subject to personal property tax in that state as well.
Who pays
In the United States, the Congressional Budget Office produces a number of reports on the share of all federal taxes paid by taxpayers of various income levels. Their data for 2002 shows the following: [http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=6133&sequence=0 (Table 2)]
- The top 1% of taxpayers by income pay 33% of all individual income taxes, and 22.7% of all federal taxes.
- The top 5% of taxpayers pay 54.5% of all individual income taxes, and 38.5% of all federal taxes.
- The top 10% of taxpayers pay 67.4% of all individual income taxes, and 50% of all federal taxes.
- The top quintile pays 82.5% of all individual income taxes, and 65.3% of all federal taxes.
Their numbers also show, that when broken down by quintile, the social insurance taxes are regressive on an effective tax rate basis only for the highest quintile, though that quintile pays the largest share of social insurance taxes (44%). [http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=6133&sequence=0 (Table 1)]
Historical taxation levels
Quite a few records of the government tax collection in Europe since at least the 17th century are still available today. But the taxation levels are hard to compare to the size and flow of the economy since production numbers are not as readily available. The government expenditures and revenue in France during the 17th century went from about 20 million livres in 1600 to about 60 million livres in 1650 to about 150 million livres in 1700 when the government debt had reached 1.6 billion livres.
The taxation as a percentage of production of final goods may have reached 15%-20% during the 17th century in places like, France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. During the war filled years of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century tax rates in Europe increased dramatically as war became more expensive and governments became more centralized and adept at gathering taxes. This increase was greatest in England, Peter Mathias and Patrick O'Brien found that the tax burden increased by 85% over this period. Another study confirmed this number, finding that per capita tax revenues had grown almost six-fold over the eighteenth century, but that steady economic growth had made the real burden on each individual only double over this period before the industrial revolution. Average tax rates were higher in Britain than France the years before the French Revolution, but they were mostly placed on international trade. In France the taxes were lower but the burden was mainly on landowners, individuals, and internal trade and thus created far more resentment.
Taxation as a percentage of GDP is today (2003) 56.1% in Denmark, 54.5% in France, 49.0% in the Euro area, 42.6% in the United Kingdom, 35.7% in the United States, 35.2% in The Republic of Ireland, and among all OECD members an average of 40.7%. ([http://www.oecd.org/topicstatsportal/0,2647,en_2825_495684_1_1_1_1_1,00.html OECD national accounts]) ([http://www.forbes.com/global/2004/0524/074chart2.html Forbes magazine])
Historical forms of taxation
In monetary economies prior to fiat banking, a critical form of taxation was seigniorage, the tax on the creation of money. Seigniorage has been replaced by central banking.
Other obsolete forms of taxation include:
- scutage - paid in lieu of military service; strictly speaking a commutation of a non-tax obligation rather than a tax as such, but functioning as a tax in practice
- tallage - a tax on feudal dependents
- tithe - a tax, or more precisely a tax-like payment, (one tenth of one's earnings or agricultural produce), paid to the Church (and thus too specific to be a tax in strict technical terms even though appearing as one to the payer)
- Aids - During feudal times Aids was a type of tax or due paid by a vassal to his lord.
- Danegeld - medieval land tax originally raised to pay off raiding Danes and later used to fund military expenditures.
- Carucate - tax which replaced the danegeld in England.
- Tax Farming - the principle of assigning the responsibility for tax revenue collection to private citizens or groups.
Some principalities taxed windows, doors or cabinets to reduce consumption of imported glass and hardware. Armoires, hutches and wardrobes were invented to evade taxes on doors and cabinets.
Today the most complicated taxation-system is the German one. Three quarters of the world's taxation-literature refers to the German system. There are 118 laws, 185 forms and 96000 regulations (only one comment to taxation covers 2671 pages). The administration spends 3.7 billion Euro just to collect income tax.
Morality of taxation
Many say that activities funded by taxes are beneficial to society and that progressive taxation used in most modern countries is a net benefit to the majority of the population. Others disagree. But as payment of tax is not optional, some people hold that taxation is tantamount to theft. This view is most common among political and philosopical schools of thought such as Objectivism, libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism, which accuse governments of levying taxes through a system of coercion. However most libertarians, particularly minarchists, recommend taxation as a necessary evil as long as only enough money is taken as is necessary for a government to maximize the protection of liberty.
Many maintain that taxation is not theft since government is the party performing the act, and moreover that if there is a democracy in place, then it is society as a whole that decides (through the government) what the level and form of taxation is. The American Revolution's "No taxation without representation" slogan took this view. Others assert that the moral stature of any act, such as slavery or the taking of a person's property without his consent, is not contingent upon its legality or who is performing it or whether a majority approves of it.
There are several justifications that are offered for compulsory taxation. Taxation of business is justified with the claim that business necessarily involves use of publicly established and maintained economic infrastructure, and businesses are in effect charged for this use. Compulsory taxation of individuals, such as income tax, is based on similar arguments to those for universality of law, territorial sovereignty, and the social contract.
See also
- Deposit Interest Retention Tax
- Dividend tax
- Fiscal neutrality
- Laffer curve and the optimal tax rate argument
- Revenue On-Line Service
- Solidarity tax on wealth in France
- Tax incidence
- Tax avoidance/evasion
- Tax resistance
- Tax Freedom Day
- Tax haven
- Tax law
- Taxation in Canada
- Taxation in the United Kingdom
- Taxation in the United States
- Taxation in Germany
- Taxation in the Republic of Ireland
- Pajak Taxation in Indonesia
External link
- [http://www.allegromedia.com/sugi/taxes/ US Income Tax Burden]
- [http://www.tax.org/Museum/default.htm The Tax History Museum] provides a synthetic overview of the history of American taxation.
- [http://www.worldwide-tax.com Comparison tax rates table] Data on World Taxes, Income Tax Rates, Tax Rates, Finance & Economy info Worldwide.
Category:Taxation
Category:Tax reform
ja:税金
simple:Tax
zh-min-nan:Sòe-kim
Transfer paymentsIn political science and economics, a transfer payment is a payment of money from a government or any other organization to an individual, a group or another order of government for which no good or service is directly required in return. In economics, government transfer payments are often thought of as a negative tax, since in the case of a tax, people pay the government without getting any good or service in direct exchange.
In Canada, transfer payments usually refer more specifically to a system of payments from the federal government to the provinces. Major Canadian transfer payments include equalization payments, the Canada Health Transfer and the Canada Social Transfer (formerly the Canada Health and Social Transfer) and Territorial Formula Financing.
Other examples of transfer payments might include welfare or scholarships.
External links
- [http://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/fedprov-e.html Department of Finance (Canada): Federal Transfers to Provinces and Territories]
Category:Economics
Category:Politics of Canada
GovernmentA government is the body that has the power to make and enforce laws within an organization or group. In its broadest sense, "to govern" means to administer or supervise, whether over an area of land, a set group of people, or a collection of assets. The word government is derived the Greek Κυβερνήτης (kubernites), which means "steersman", "governor", "pilot" or "rudder".
Definitions
One approach is to define government as the decision-making arm of the state, and define the latter on the basis of the control it has over violence and the use of force within its territory. Specifically, the state (and by extension the government) has been considered by some to be the entity that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a territory. This view has been taken by the political economist Max Weber and subsequent political philosophers. The exact meaning of it depends on what is understood by “legitimate”. If we use the term in an ethical sense, then this definition would suggest that an organisation might be considered a state by its supporters but not by its detractors. An alternative definition is to take "legitimate" violence to be simply that which has active or tacit acceptance by the vast majority of the population. In this view, the presence of insurrection or civil war against an entity would jeopardise its claim to be a state, provided the insurrection enjoyed significant popular support. Similarly, an entity that shared military or police power with independent militias and bandits could be considered to have a monopoly on “legitimate” violence but to be failing to enforce it, reducing its claim to statehood. In practice, such situations are often described as "failed states".
Government can also be defined as the political means of creating and enforcing laws; typically via a bureaucratic hierarchy. Under this definition, a purely despotic organization which controls a territory without defining laws would not be considered a government.
Another alternative is to define a government as an organisation that attempts to maintain control of a territory, where "control" involves activities such as collecting taxes, controlling entry and exit to the state, preventing encroachment of territory by neighbouring states and preventing the establishment of alternative governments within the country.
In Commonwealth English, the word "Government" can also be used to refer only to the executive branch, in this context being a synonym for the word "administration" in American English (e.g. the Blair Government, the Bush Administration). In countries using the Westminster system, the Government (or party in Government) will also usually control the legislature. The French use of the word gouvernement covers both meanings, whereas Canadian French generally uses it to mean the executive branch. The German word Regierung refers only to government as the executive branch; the wider meaning of the word, government as a system, can be translated as Staatsgewalt.
Forms of government
Various forms of government have been implemented. A government in a developed state is likely to have various sub-organisations known as offices, departments, or agencies, which are headed by politically appointed officials, often called ministers or secretaries. Ministers may in theory act as advisors to the head of state, but in practice have a certain amount of direct power in specific areas. In most modern democracies, the elected legislative assembly has the power to dismiss the government, but in those states that have a separate head of government and head of state, the head of state generally has great latitude in appointing a new one.
Theories
There are a wide range of theories about the reasons for establishing governments. The four major ones are briefly described below. Note that they do not always fully oppose each other - it is possible for a person to subscribe to a combination of ideas from two or more of these theories.
Greed and oppression
Many political philosophies that are opposed to the existence of a government (such as Anarchism, and to a lesser extent Marxism), as well as others, emphasize the historical roots of governments - the fact that governments, along with private property, originated from the authority of warlords and petty despots who took, by force, certain patches of land as their own (and began exercising authority over the people living on that land). Thus, it is argued that governments exist to enforce the will of the strong and oppress the weak.
Order and tradition
The various forms of conservatism, by contrast, generally see the government as a positive force that brings order out of chaos, establishes laws to end the "war of all against all", encourages moral virtue while punishing vice, and respects tradition. Sometimes, in this view, the government is seen as something ordained by a higher power, as in the divine right of kings, which human beings have a duty to obey.
Natural rights
Natural rights are the basis for the theory of government shared by most branches of liberalism (including libertarianism). In this view, human beings are born with certain natural rights, and governments are established strictly for the purpose of protecting those rights. What the natural rights actually are is a matter of dispute among liberals; indeed, each branch of liberalism has its own set of rights that it considers to be natural, and these rights are sometimes mutually exclusive with the rights supported by other liberals.
Social contract
One of the most influential theories of government in the past two hundred years has been the social contract, on which modern democracy and most forms of socialism are founded. The social contract theory holds that governments are created by the people in order to provide for collective needs (such as safety from crime) that cannot be properly satisfied using purely individual means. Governments thus exist for the purpose of serving the needs and wishes of the people, and their relationship with the people is clearly stipulated in a "social contract" (a constitution and a set of laws) which both the government and the people must abide by. If a majority is unhappy, it may change the social contract. If a minority is unhappy, it may persuade the majority to change the contract, or it may opt out of it by emigration or secession.
Operations
Governments concern themselves with regulating and administering many areas of human activity, such as trade, education, medicine, entertainment, and war.
Enforcement of power
Governments use a variety of methods to maintain the established order, such as police and military forces, (particularly under despotism, see also police state), making agreements with other states, and maintaining support within the state. Typical methods of maintaining support and legitimacy include providing the infrastructure for administration, justice, transport, communication, social welfare etc., claiming support from deities, providing benefits to elites, holding elections for important posts within the state, limiting the power of the state through laws and constitutions (see also Bill of Rights) and appealing to nationalism. Different political ideologies hold different ideas on what the government should or should not do.
Territory
The modern standard unit of territory is a country. In addition to the meaning used above, the word state can refer either to a government or to its territory. Within a territory, subnational entities may have local governments which do not have the full power of a national government (for example, they will generally lack the authority to declare war or carry out diplomatic negotiations).
Scale of government
Main articles: government ownership, government spending
The scale to which government should exist and operate in the world is a matter of debate. Government spending in developed countries varies considerably but generally makes up between about 30% and 70% of their GDP.
See also
- Conspiracy theories
- Government ownership
- Government simulation
- Minority government
- Political corruption
- Premier
- Statesman
Relevant lists
- List of democracy and elections-related topics
- List of fictional governments
Category:Society
ko:정부
ms:Kerajaan
ja:政府
simple:Government
th:รัฐบาล
Household consumption expendituresComposition
See also
- Household final consumption expenditure
External links
- [http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/newcronos/reference/display.do?screen=welcomeref&open=/yearlies/C/C5/C51&language=en&product=EU_yearlies&root=EU_yearlies&scrollto=0 Eurostat - Consumption expenditure of private households]
Category:Microeconomics
Disposable income is also a very useful indicator of the spending patterns of consumers.
- [http://www.investorwords.com/5716/Personal_Consumption_Expenditures.html Personal Consumption Expenditures]
Category:Microeconomics
Category:Taxation
A tax is an involuntary fee or, more precisely, "unrequited payment", paid by individuals or businesses to a government (central or local).
Category:Government finances
Category:Political economy
Category:Accounting
ja:Category:租税
ko:분류:조세
Category:IncomeCategory:Economics Chocolate CityChocolate City is the name of a 1975 album by Parliament. It features the classic P-Funk combination of George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins and Eddie Hazel and the debut of the Horney Horns consisting of Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley. The album has a theme of love of Washington DC where P-Funk was particularly popular with the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial both featured on the cover as well as sticker titled "Washington DC". The album reached the top 20 of the Billboard black charts but only reached #91 on the album charts.
Chocolate City theme
The album takes its name from the term Chocolate city which had been used to describe Washington DC where blacks were a majority. The term had been used by Washington's black AM radio stations WOL-AM and WOOK-AM since the early 1970's to refer to the city. Bobby "The Mighty Burner" Bennett, a DJ on WOL, told the Washington Post in 1998 "Chocolate City for me was the expression of D.C.'s classy funk and confident blackness." (1)
George Clinton used the concept in the title track using the black domination of the inner cities as a positive message in contrast to concern over White flight. The lyrics of the song refer to "there are a large number of chocolate cities around/We got Newark, we got Gary/Someone told me we got L.A./ But you're the capital D.C." (2) All of the cities referred to had black mayors at the time including Atlanta which was mentioned elsewhere in the song.
Clinton's lyrics referred to Chocolate City as "my piece of the rock" as opposed to the "40 acres and a mule" that slaves were promised after the Civil War. He contrasted the chocolate city with the "vanilla suburbs" a term first used on the track.
The lyrics also reflected Clintons thanks for the Capitol's strong support for P-Funk, further shown by the album cover showing the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol.
Other tracks on the album reflecting the influence of Washington are "Let Me Be" drawing from 1970's D.C. gospel and "I Misjudged You" a homage to The Unifics, a Washington r&b ballad group. (3)
Music
Chocolate City was the first Parliament album released by Casablanca Records in 1975. The album features the classic P-Funk lineup with Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Eddie Hazel joined with the Horney Horns of Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley joining the lineup for the first time.Both musicians had previously worked with James Brown. The Brecker brothers, Michael and Randy, joined the band as did vocallist Glen Goins.
The album is full of the uptempo funk that the band would be known for as well as the vocal harmonies of the Parliaments. "Let Me Be" draws on jazz as well as gospel lyrics.
Chart Performance
Chocolate City reached the top 20 of the black album charts in 1975 and reached #91 on the album charts. "Chocolate City", the title track and first single reached #24 on the black chart and #94 on the Billboard Hot 100 while "Ride On" the second single reached #64 on the black chart. (4)
Track Listing
The track listing on the original album was:
# Chocolate City
# Ride On
# Together
# Side Effects
# What Comes Funky
# Let Me Be
# If It Don't Fit (Don't Force It)
# I Misjudged You
# Bigfootin'
A 2003 remastered version contained three songs including alternative mixes of "If It Don't Fit (Don't Force It)" and "I Misjudged You" and a recording of "Common Law Wife" not on the original album. (5)
References
Footnotes
(1) The quote from Washington DJ Bobby "The Mighty Burner" Bennett came from an article in The Washington Post of 1 February 1998 see [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/dc/dc6898/funk.htm]
(2)Eric Avila Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight University of California Press 2004 ISBN 0520241215 page 5
(3) Popmatters Review, 11 June 2003 [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/p/parliament-chocolate.shtml]
(4) All chart listings from Billboard published on Allmusic.com.
(5) Original track listing from Allmusic.com. Additional tracks in pop matters album.
Chocolate City References
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/dc/dc6898/funk.htm Kenneth Carroll, Washington Post February 1 1998]
- Eric Avila, Op Cit.
- Mark Anthony Neal, What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Popular Culture Routledge UK 1998 ISBN 0415920728 pages 103, 115
- Geneva Smitherman, Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner Houghton Mifflin 2000 page 92
Music
- [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781ED947A57520EFB71670E1FA5CDE2DFE62D9BA5007656392940454880C71ED59E695C5AEFB6AB679AFFA62A3500FDAC0EC53ECAD1B&uid=CAW050508010447&sql=10:o3rb28oc056a~T1 Allmusic.com review of Chocolate City album]
- [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781ED947A57520EFB71670E1FA5CDE2DFE62D9BA5007656392940454880C71ED59E695C5AEFB6AB679AFFA62A3500ED1C0EF5FECAD1B&sql=33:fe7zefqk5gfj Allmusic.com article on Chocolate City track]
- [http://www.musictap.net/Reviews/ParliamentChocolateCity.html Musictap review of Chocolate City]
- [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/p/parliament-chocolate.shtml Popmatters review of Chocolate City]
- Fred Wesley, Hit Me, Fred Duke University Press 2002, ISBN 0822329093 pages 181,182, 195, 198
- Dave Thompson, Funk Backbeat Books 2001 ISBN 0879306297 pages 89-97
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