Uchebnik_Anglyiskyi__2TD

11.3 Read the text about corruption in the U.S. Customs Service. Suggest your considerations about combating with corruption in the Customs Service

Text B

From the very beginning of the U.S.Customs Service existence there have been a lot of problems, corruption being the major one. No one likes to pay taxes and a good number of citizens try to take the law into their own hands, bending the system in the pursuit of increased profits. The reality is that with a small number of inspectors, thousands of miles of hard-to-protect borders, and unscrupulous entrepreneurs willing to fill almost any demand, the Customs Service has always been something of an underdog.

Two years after the War of 1812 had begun, for example, the Governor General of Canada wrote the British foreign office in London that "two thirds of the army in Canada are at this moment eating beef provided by American contractors, drawn principally from the states of New York and Vermont."

Although Customs seized some of the contraband, its task was obviously impossible. "Like herds of buffaloes they [the smugglers] pressed through the forest, making paths for themselves," a general wrote the American Secretary of War. "Were it not for the supplies, the British force in Canada soon would be suffering from famine, or their government would be subjected to enormous expenses for their maintenance."

These inherent conflicts, and the vast profits to be realized from contraband, have meant that the Customs Service has been required to wage an almost continuous battle against corruption. A report from the solicitor of the Treasury Department in the middle of the Civil War concluded that Customs Service clerks in New York with annual salaries of $1,000 began an eight-year tour of duty with nothing and left government with what at the time was "a fortune of $30,000" or more.

While the adoption of the income tax in World War One would lessen some of these pressures, the national ban on the sale of liquor during most of the 1920s Prohibition created an economic dynamic in which businessmen and gangsters serving a thirsty nation were all too willing to set aside some of their vast profits to assure that those guarding the borders looked the other way.

When the nation's war on drugs picked up steam during the Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations, drug organizations from every corner of the world presented a new challenge to the integrity of enforcement officials at all levels of government. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates that federal agents in 1998 seized 120 metric tons of cocaine and 1,580 kilograms of heroin. But this is known to be only a small fraction of these two drugs that were smuggled in the country that year. While corruption is only one of many factors explaining the continuing success of the smugglers, historical record is clear: bribery is a continuing concern.

In 1998, for example, Congress became sufficiently worried about such problems in the Customs Service that it ordered the Treasury Department's Office of Professional Responsibility to undertake a special study of corruption within the service and the efficacy of service's internal affairs system to combat it. In February 1999, in a little noticed report, the office concluded that while organized networks of corruption had not been uncovered within the Customs Service, that the massive flow of drugs into the U.S. places "Customs and its employees at great risk to corruption." OPR also found serious weaknesses in how the Office of Internal Affairs "sought to detect and combat corruption."

(2900 symbols)

11.3.1 Give the initial forms of the following words and state what parts of speech they belong to:

11.3.2 Give English equivalents of the following words and collocations:

платить налоги, неудачник, генерал –губернатор, проложить тропу, огромные прибыли, эффективность, запрет, обойти систему, голод (истощение), взяточничество, малая часть.

11.3.3Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1)Сorruption has been the major problem for the U.S.Service.

2)Everybody likes to pay taxes.

3)The reality is that the Customs Service has always been something of an undercat.

4)If it had been not for the supplies, the American force in Canada would have suffered from famine.

5)The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates that federal agents in 1998 seized 120 metric tons of cocaine and 1,580 kilograms of heroin.

12 Unit 12 Customs Tariffs and International Trade

12.1Pre-text Assignments

12.1.1Practice the reading of the following words and guess their meaning:

12.1.3 Read the following words and their translation. Try to memorize the vocabulary:

12.2 Read the text about major types and forms of customs tariffs

Text A

Tariffs

International trade includes all economic transactions that are made between countries. Accounts of barter of goods or of services among different people can be traced back almost as far as the record of human history. International trade, however, is specifically an exchange between members of different nations. Accounts and explanations of such trade begins only with the rise of the modern nation-state at the close of the European Middle Ages.

All nations interfere with international transactions to at least some degree. Tariffs may be imposed on imports — in some instances making them so costly as to bar completely the entry of the goods involved. Quotas may limit the permissible volume of imports. State subsidies may be offered to encourage exports. Money-capital exports may be restricted or prohibited. Investments by foreigners in domestic plants and equipment may be similarly restrained. These interferences may be simply the result of special-interest pleading, because particular groups suffer as a consequence of import competition. Or a government may impose restrictions because it feels impelled to take account of factors that comparative advantage sets aside.

The general pattern of interference follows the old mercantilist dictum of discouraging imports and encouraging exports.

Such interference or trade barriers may include state trading organizations and government procurement practice that may be used preferentially. Customs classification and valuation procedures, health regulations and marking requirements may also have a restrictive effect on trade. Excise taxes may act as a barrier to trade if they are levied at higher rates on imports than on domestic goods.

Different government regulations and practices also act as barriers to trade. For example, a tariff, or duty, which is a tax levied on a commodity when it crosses the boundary of the Customs area. The boundary may be that of a nation or group of nations that have agreed to impose a common tax on goods entering their territory. Protective tariffs are designed to shield domestic

production from foreign competition by raising the price of the imported commodity. Revenue tariffs are designed to obtain revenue rather than to restrict imports. Still, protective tariffs, unless they are so high as to keep out imports, yield revenue, and revenue tariffs give some protection to any domestic producer of the duty-bearing goods. A transit duty, or transit tax, is a tax levied on commodities passing through a Customs area en route to another country. Similarly, an export duty, or export tax, is a tax imposed on commodities leaving a Customs area.

Other practices may also act as barriers to trade. Quotas of quantitative restrictions may prohibit the importation of certain commodities or limit the amounts imported. Such quotas are usually administered by requiring importers to have licences to bring in particular commodities. Quotas raise prices just as tariffs do, but, being set in physical terms, their impact on imports is direct, with an absolute ceiling set on supply. Increased prices will not bring more goods in. There is also a difference between tariffs and quotas in their effect on revenues. With tariffs, the government receives the revenue; under quotas, the import licence holders obtain a windfall in the form of the difference between the high domestic price and the low international price of the import.

Tariffs on imports may be applied in several ways. If they are imposed according to the physical quantity of an import, they are called specific tariffs. If they are levied according to the value of the import, they are known as ad valorem tariffs.

Tariffs may differentiate among the countries from which the imports are obtained. They may, for instance, be lower between countries that have previously entered into special arrangements, such as the trade preferences accorded to each other by members of the Commonwealth.

(3200 symbols)

12.2.1Answer the following questions:

1)What is a tariff or duty?

2)What are protective tariffs designed to do?

3)What are revenue tariffs aimed at?

4)On what is a transit tariff or transit duty levied?

5)On what is an export duty or export tax imposed?

6)What are quotas usually introduced for?

7)In what way do quotas differ from tariffs?

8)What are the two ways in which tariffs or imports may be applied?

9)What trade preferences do members of the Commonwealth have?

10)How can tariffs encourage domestic production?

11)Why are tariffs favoured by industries?

12)What tendencies may tariffs encourage as far as a market structure is concerned?

13)What can force the price of the import down?

14)What are the negative results of imposing higher duty rates?

15)Why is the amount of revenue obtainable through tariffs always limited?

12.2.2Look through text A again and underline the words essential for

its general understanding.

12.3 Read the following words and their translation

to prevent smuggling предотвращать (пресекать) провоз

Text B

The Problems Facing the Customs Administrations of Today

We live in a rapidly changing world. Things which we regard as commonplace today, world-wide telecommunications via satellite, space travel, the micro-processor, were scarcely conceivable just a few decades ago.

In recent times the world has also changed from the Customs' perspective. The traditional Customs responsibilities of collecting duties and taxes and preventing smuggling still remain with us but Customs cannot afford to ignore the changing world conditions which have a major impact on their work.

Some Customs authorities are responsible for such diverse tasks as immigration control and the enforcement of commercial policy through the implementation of preferential trade agreements, the operation of quotas and the application of restrictions, the application of public health and safety legislation, quarantine controls, currency controls, counterfeiting and piracy legislation and the collection of external trade statistics. These are just a few of the non-traditional areas in which Customs are now becoming increasingly involved. Trade demands for additional services such as deferred payment of duty have also had their effect on Customs.

The application of all these added responsibilities has led inevitably to an increase in the complexity of Customs regulations. Tariff books and procedure manuals are becoming significantly more detailed. Officials, who in the past applied a fairly simplified tariff schedule specifying Customs duties on a limited range of goods, are now faced with the increased complexities of tariffs based on the Harmonized System. It is becoming increasingly difficult in some countries for Customs officers to be aware of all existing regulations affecting importations. This has led to a lack of uniformity in the application of the law. It provides increased opportunities for the circumvention of Customs law and produces an ideal environment for the spread of practices such as irregular payments. Customs can expect an increased workload from increasing international trade and traffic. The problems of smuggling, therefore that the manner in which Customs Services conduct their business has a substantial impact on trade efficiency.

Governments throughout the world recognize the value of Customs Services in their national economies and realize that the service being provided by Customs is one they cannot easily dispense with. However, they are also beginning to see the dangers of inefficient Customs Services. As a result, Customs Services around the world are re-examining the way they operate and deal with their customers. The challenge is to facilitate the international trade process at a minimum cost to economy, and without compromising the collection of revenue or the protection of the community from illegal cross-border movements of goods.

(3000 symbols)

12.3.2 Look through the text again and write out all word combinations with the word "Customs" used attributively and translate them into Russian:

12.4 Speaking. Present your views on the following

1 What government practices can act as barriers to trade?

2 In what way may tariffs affect the economy of the country? What is the situation in Russia?

3 ”Protection and patriotism are reciprocal”. (J. Calhoun) 4 ”Dispatch is the sole of business.” (P. D. Stanhope)

13 English-Russian Glossary