1.2. Using the information from the text, decide if these statements are true or false:

1. Income tax is deducted from employees’ salaries and wages.

2. Value added tax is one of direct taxes.

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3. Taxes are a compulsory financial contribution by a person or body of persons towards the expenditure of public authorities.

4. Taxpayers are all citizens of the country.

5. In modern economies taxes are the most important source of government revenues.

6. Excise duties are imposed on such goods as alcohol and tobacco to reduce the total consumption of them.

7. Tax avoidance implies legal ways to minimize or elimi-nate tax liability.

1.3. Answer the questions:

1. What is the main source of the Government’s revenue? 2. What are direct and indirect taxes in the UK?

3. What are the main functions of taxation?

4. How often is the government financial policy (and taxa-tion) reviewed in the budget?

5. Are major tax reforms introduced annually? 6. What is ‘tax payer non-compliance’?

2. THE SCOPE OF THE US TAX SYSTEM

Text 2

Read the text and memorize the types of taxes in the USA: The US government raises taxes from a variety of sources.

There are taxes on the earnings of individuals and corporations, known as individual income taxes and corporation income taxes. Real estate — buildings and land — is subject to taxation by most states; these taxes are known as property taxes. Large bequests and gifts are taxed through gift and estate taxes. There are special provi-sions relating to the taxation of capital gains (the increase in value of an asset between the time an individual purchases it and the time he / she sells it). Furthermore, wage income is subject not only to the in-come tax, but also to the payroll tax (the tax levied on a company’s payroll, half of which is deducted from employees’ paychecks. Rev-enues from the payroll tax finance the Social Security (retirement income) and Medicare (medical care for the aged) programs.

There are also taxes on the purchase of specific goods and services, known as excise taxes. The two heaviest excise taxes are on alcohol and tobacco, also known as sin taxes. The excise

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taxes on air travel and gasoline are sometimes called benefit tax-es because the proceeds do for benefits, like airports and roads, to those who purchase the good. Excise taxes on perfume, large cars, yachts and expensive fur coats targeted to the rich, are re-ferred to as luxury taxes. Other excise taxes, such as the one on telephone services, have no particular justification other than raising revenue. Most states impose a general tax on purchases of goods and services, known as a sales tax, though typically a wide variety of items (such as food) are exempted. As this list indi-cates, few transactions in our economy escape taxation.

2.1. Find in the text the English equivalents for:

подлежать налогообложению; взимать налог;

освобождать (от уплаты налога); социальное обеспечение; сделка;

налог на дарение;

налог с заработной платы;

налог на продажу предметов роскоши.

2.2. Complete the sentences using the information from the text above:

The taxes on the earnings of individuals are known as …

1. Wage income is subject not only to the income tax but al-so to …

2. … are taxes on specific goods and services.

3. If you want to buy a very expensive fur coat, you will have to pay …

4. Few transactions in our economy … taxation.

5. Alcohol and tobacco which are harmful for human health are called …

2.3. Give the derivative verbs to the following nouns from the text:

Example: employee — employ.

retirement, earnings, justification, taxation, government, transactions, building, increase, purchase, proceeds, service.

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2.4. Compare the scope of US taxes with that of Britain. Find the differences.