Progressive Era

1. The federal government regulates and subsidizes states and localities. It subsidizes them through both matching and block grants for specific purposes. In the past, it also provided general revenue sharing. In matching grants, the amount received by states and localities depends on the amount they spend. Indirect aid is provided by the exemption from taxation of interest on state and local bonds and the tax deductibility of state and local income and property taxes. 2. The arguments…

The first question actually refers to morality since both are related. Immanuel Kant(1724/1804) was one of the most prolific philosophers of his time he evaluated the idea of goodwill and how one can attain it. “Goodwill” according to Kant is absolutely the only thing that we most posses to carry out a moral act. In his believes our actions are only well intended if there is goodwill in them. In other words, a good action cannot be executed without goodwill and it could be bad to others. I…

Married taxpayers often file a joint tax return than filing separately since joint filing provides several benefits including tax savings. This is true especially if one spouse earns more income than the other spouse. But when a tax return is jointly filed, both individuals are equally responsible for the payment of taxes. If one of you underpays your taxes, the IRS can come after both spouses to collect the entire tax dues. Under joint and several liability rules, joint tax return filers remain…

The Trump Administration's "Tax Overhaul" As Viewed by Analysts President Donald Trump will reportedly be calling for a significant increase in the standard deduction people can claim on their tax returns when he presents the outline of the tax-overhaul pitch before the Congress. Two people, who were briefed on the Trump administration "tax overhaul", said Trump's proposal will see thousands of dollars put into the pockets of American workers. Trump has flagged cutting tax rates for small…

regressive, and progressive tax plans? Flat tax is a set or fixed rate. The tax percentage stays the same no matter the income or price of the product. In regressive the tax rate decreases as the price of the product increases. In this if you have less of an income you have a higher tax. Progressive tax is when a larger percentage taken out for taxes as an income increases. • Under which plan would you pay the most in taxes? Under which plan would you pay the least in taxes? In progressive tax…

Does the location of any country on the list in Figure 8.4 surprise you? Why? What shocked me was India’s Gini Index score of 36.8. I have always had this image that India suffered from extreme poverty and unequal income distributions. Finding it lower on the list (lower than the United State), makes me reevaluate the assumption that the media and television portray. Where do developing and developed countries tend to fall on the list? Why do you think this is so? According to the…

Since 1986, American taxpayers have spent over 4 billion dollars a year on subsidies for sports franchises. The construction of sports stadiums is occurring at immense pace. “The National Football League has opened 17 new stadiums” (Coates). At this incredible rate, is seems as if it is necessary for state and local governments being involved with the financing, managing, and the construction of such venues. The municipal bonds used to fund these new stadiums are typically backed by the…

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has item H.3933 on the agenda, which is a constitutional amendment that is designed to increase the tax percentage on individuals residing in the state that have a yearly income of one million dollars and above. The tax proposal is heavily surrounded by the use of numbers as it would raise the current percentage four points from 5.15% to 9.15%. Currently in the state as of 2014, data has indicated that approximately 15,000 people resided in the state with annual…

Introduction The History and Job of the IRS President Abraham Lincoln and Congress created the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1862. President Lincoln and Congress created the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) because they wanted to create a source of revenue from income taxes to pay for the war expenses from the Civil War. Ten years later, the income tax law was revoked, but was eventually revived by congress in 1894. The next year, “the Supreme Court ruled that the income tax was…

I think the decision to leave a tip or not is up to a customer since he or she has to make a choice. All the time, when a customer is served at a restaurant, he expects a high-quality service, and when he is satisfied by the service offered he leave the tip. Maybe this is a right thing to do since you pay for a great service; however, there is another problem which must be considered. How a customer can be sure that the waiter will pay taxes for the income which comes from the tip. For instance,…