Task 15 Why are these dates important to the European Union?
1. May 9, 1950
2. July 23, 1952
3. January 1,1973
4. January 1,1981
5. January 1,1986
6. October 3, 1990
7. June 1993
8. November 1, 1993
9. January 1,1995
10. May 1999
11. December 2000.
12. April 16, 2003
13. May 1, 2004
Task 16 Read the case about a currency transaction tax levied. In small groups, imagine that you have been invited to advise the government on how the proceeds of a currency transaction tax should be spent. Select five of the following suggestions, and place them in order of priority:
• Cleaning up pollution
• Developing alternative energy installations
• Disaster aid (future earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, etc.)
• Disease prevention (AIDS and other diseases)
• Education and literacy (for children and adults)
• Funding microfinance schemes (see Unit 1 4)
• Health clinics and hospitals
• Humanitarian aid for refugees from wars, famine, or political persecution
• Land preservation and environmental restoration (planting trees, etc.)
• Monitoring and protecting endangered species
• Removing landmines
• Other
A proposal has been made to impose a currency transaction tax (CTT) that would be collected from dealers in international currency markets, by financial clearing or settlement systems.
The idea behind the Tobin Tax was to slow down capital flows across borders, to make governmental monetary policy more effective, and to prevent or manage exchange rate crises. The CCT, on the contrary, is not designed to change foreign exchange market behavior, but only to raise money without disrupting the market. But of course taxing foreign exchange transactions would increase the spread, or the difference between bid (buying) and ask (selling) prices at which trades would be profitable, and so would reduce the number of transactions. It is estimated that this would be by 14 The proposed tax rate is 0.5 basis points. A basis point is 11100th of 1%, so the tax would be 0.005% of the amount of currency traded. Buying and then selling a currency would involve a tax of 1 basis point.
It is calculated that a CTT of 0.5 basis points on all major currencies would yield an annual revenue of over $33 billion. Taxing only transactions involving the US$ against all other currencies would raise over $28 billion, as most foreign exchange transactions involve the dollar.
UNIT 6
TAXES AND TAXATION
LEAD-IN
Task 1 Read the quotation below and say what gap between theory and practice the author mentions.
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“These are tough times for state governments. Huge deficits loom almost everywhere, from California to New York, from New Jersey to Texas.
Wait—Texas?Wasn’t Texas supposed to be thriving even as the rest of America suffered? Didn't its governor declare, during his re-election campaign, that 'we have billions in surplus'? Yes, it was, and yes, he did. But reality has now intruded, in the form of a deficit expected to run as high as $25 billion over the next two years.
And that reality has implications for the nation as a whole. For Texas is where the modern conservative theory of budgeting—the belief that you should never raise taxes under any circumstances, that you can always balance the budget by cutting wasteful spending—has been implemented most completely. If the theory can't make it there, it can't make it anywhere.” ― Paul Krugman
Task 2 Answer the questions.
1. How are taxes connected with the conservative theory of budgeting?
2. How do you understand “wasteful spending”?
3. Why was Texas supposed to thrive?
4. What do you know about the deficit budget of the USA?
5. How do you understand “If the theory can't make it there, it can't make it anywhere”?
6. What moral dilemmas are faced in terms of tax payment?
Task 3 Read the quotations and speculate on their meaning.
1. There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.
Robert A. Heinlein.
2. Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. Oliver Wendell Holmes
3. One thing is clear: The Founding Fathers never intended a nation where citizens would pay nearly half of everything they earn to the government.
Ron Paul
4. We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
Winston S. Churchill
5. ...but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
― Benjamin Franklin ,
6. You can’t tax business. Business doesn’t pay taxes. It collects taxes.
Ronald Reagan
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7. Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
HermanWouk
8. No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity.
RushLimbaugh
9. Every culture has some ritual for joining two people together and making them stay that way, and ours is giving tax breaks.
Bauvard
10. The taxpayer is the new permanent underclass.
Andrew Wilkow
READING
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