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The purpose of taxation is to provide for government spending without inflation. The provision of public goods such as roads and other infrastructure, schools, a social safety net, public health systems, national defense, law enforcement, and a courts system increases the economic welfare of society if the benefit outweighs the costs involved.
The tax gap is the difference between the amount of tax legally owed and the amount actually collected by the government. The tax gap in 2006 was estimated to be $450 billion. [125] The tax gap two years later in 2008 was estimated to be in the range of $450–$500 billion and unreported income was estimated to be approximately $2 trillion. [126]
As argued under the Articles, the lack of a power to tax renders government impotent. Typically, the power is used to raise revenues for the general support of government. But, Congress has employed the taxing power in uses other than solely for the raising of revenue, such as: regulatory taxation – taxing to regulate commerce; [11]
George S. Boutwell was the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue under President Abraham Lincoln.. In July 1862, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln and Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1862, creating the office of commissioner of internal revenue and enacting a temporary income tax to pay war expenses.
These taxes are in addition to federal income tax and are deductible for federal tax purposes. State and local income tax rates vary from zero to 16% of taxable income. [63] Some state and local income tax rates are flat (single rate), and some are graduated. State and local definitions of what income is taxable vary highly.
Today, the estate tax is a tax imposed on the transfer of the "taxable estate" of a deceased person, whether such property is transferred via a will or according to the state laws of intestacy. The estate tax is one part of the Unified Gift and Estate Tax system in the United States. The other part of the system, the gift tax, imposes a tax on ...
The federal income tax was strongly favored in the South, and it was moderately supported in the eastern North Central states, but it was strongly opposed in the Far West and the Northeastern States (with the exception of New Jersey). [15] The tax was derided as "un-Democratic, inquisitorial, and wrong in principle". [16] In Pollock v.
Taxation is the most important source of government revenue. [2] Governments can use tax revenue to provide public services such as social security, health care, national defense, and education. Changing the distribution of income and wealth.