Ex.1. Read the words with the following letter combinations
are [ɛə] welfare, care, dare, spare, rare, compare
ire [ɑiə] retire, require, fire, acquire, tire, expire
air [ɛə] fair, stair, pair, hair, air, lair
aw[ɔ:] law, lawn, awe, awful, awkward, paw
Ex.2. Read the following words with the letter g in different positions.
[g] degree, regulation, government, slogan, great, regardless
[dʒ] energy, engineering, generate, average, suggest, percentage, marginal
[ŋ] among, nothing, seeing, paying
Ex.3. Read the words in the groups bellow. Pay attention to the word stress.
a) words with the stress on the first syllable:
certain, operate, elderly, benefit, common, public, vary, burden, taxable, influence, social, fiscal, modify, pattern, purpose, legal, levy, advocate, generate, governance, equity, equitable, argue, loophole, standard, manner, principle, measure, recognise, average, marginal, total;
b) words with the stress on the second syllable:
except, society, accept, include, utilities, activity, distribute, security, performance, transaction, transfer (v), discourage, taxation, degree, complain, criteria, efficient, intelligible, allow, withhold, afford, discomfort, impose, proportional, progressive, regressive, percentage;
c) polysyllabic words with the main and secondary stress:
economic, engineering, infrastructure, education, unemployment, regulation, externalities, representation, accountability.
Ex.4. Practice reading the following words.
Except, accept, throughout, vary, redistribute, social, society, disabled, transaction, purpose, consequential, representation, externalities, accountability, governance, government, criterion, criteria, equitable, argue, simplicity, intelligible, efficiency, withhold, measure, assume, percentage, average.
B. Word formation
Ex.5. Form verbs adding prefix re- as in the model. Explain what new meaning the prefix adds to the words.
Model: write → rewrite
Distribute, price, do, apply, appoint, organise, appraise, make, build, construct, count, examine.
Ex.6. Identify each of the following words as a noun-thing, a noun-person, an adjective, or an adverb. Translate the words into Ukrainian.
Taxation, physical, governance, accountability, recognise, theoretic, dangerous, manageable, protection, difference, homeless, really, idealist, excellence, possible, leadership, society, shorten, generate, specify, taxpayer, hopeful.
Ex.7. Choose the variant, A, B, or C, that correctly completes each sentence.
1. The __________ of the news was clear for everybody.
| A importance | B important | C importantly |
2. The company was unable to __________ enough profit to stay in business.
| A generator | B generate | C generation |
3. As your medical problem is so serious, you should see a __________ .
| A specialize | B special | C specialist |
4. The manager was able to __________ his team to perform better.
| A motivate | B motivator | C motivation |
5. It is __________ that they live so close to the university.
| A conveniently | B convenience | C convenient |
6. He gave an __________ incorrect answer to the question.
| A obvious | B obviously | C obviate |
7. It was necessary for the speaker to __________ her message.
| A clarify | B clarity | C clarification |
8. He was not concerned about the __________ of his actions.
| A careless | B carelessness | C carelessly |
9. The children ran __________ to the entrance of the park.
| A excitedly | B excited | C excitement |
10. I think this book is one of the most __________ novels of recent years.
| A impression | B impressionist | C impressive |
TEXT A: TAXES
Active Vocabulary
| Key terms: tax, taxation, legal tender, welfare, unemployment benefits, tax rate, fiscal policy, transaction, externalities, flat tax, tax loophole, marginal. Other words and expressions:to accept, to recognise, to provide, to carry out functions, protection, enforcement, to fund, to vary, to distribute, to influence, to support, to advocate, to imply, accountability, governance, to complain, to tend, certain, criterion/criteria, efficient, impartial, fair, to argue, dispute, amount, to allow, intelligible, to gain, to withhold, to benefit, to measure, average. Linking words and phrases:on behalf of, in addition (to), while, yet, in order (for smth /smb) to do smth, so that, both ... and, (al)though, first(ly)/second(ly), according to, regardless of smth. |
Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes”. Yet, we as a society have come to accept the inevitability of taxes. Everyone dislikes them, but we recognize their need.
Taxes are any payment on behalf of the individual to the government. Taxes are used to pay for all government services. Without taxes, the government would have no money to operate.
Purposes of Taxation
Funds provided by taxation have been used by governments throughout history to carry out many functions. Some of these include the enforcement of law and public order, protection of property, economic infrastructure (roads, legal tender, enforcement of contracts, etc.), public works, social engineering, and the operation of government itself. Governments also use taxes to fund welfare and public services. These services can include education systems, health care systems, pensions for the elderly, unemployment benefits, and public transportation. Energy, water and waste management systems are also common public utilities.
Governments use different kinds of taxes and vary the tax rates. This is done to distribute the tax burden among individuals or classes of the population involved in taxable activities, such as business, or to redistribute resources between individuals or classes in the population. Modern social security systems are intended to support the poor, the disabled, or the retired by taxes on those who are still working. In addition, taxes are applied to influence the macroeconomic performance of the economy (the government's strategy for doing this is called its fiscal policy), or to modify patterns of consumption or employment within an economy by making some classes of transaction more or less attractive.
Four R’s
Taxation has four main purposes or effects: Revenue, Redistribution, Repricing, and Representation.
The main purpose is revenue: taxes raise money to spend on armies, roads, schools and hospitals, and on more indirect government functions like market regulation or legal systems. This is the most widely known function.
The second purpose is redistribution. Normally, this means transferring wealth from the richer sections of society to poorer sections.
The third purpose of taxation is repricing. Taxes are levied to deal with externalities: tobacco is taxed, for example, to discourage smoking, and many people advocate such policies as implementing a carbon tax.
The fourth, consequential effect of taxation in its historical setting has been representation. The American revolutionary slogan "no taxation without representation" implied this: rulers tax citizens, and citizens demand accountability from their rulers as the other part of this bargain. Several studies have shown that direct taxation (such as the income tax) generates the greatest degree of accountability and better governance, while indirect taxation tends to have smaller effects.
What Makes a "Good Tax"
Just about every taxpayer complains about the high rate of taxes, yet if one were asked whether they would trade the tax for the removal of service, they would rather pay the tax. In order for taxes to be acceptable, however, they must meet certain criteria. In order for a tax to be successful, it must be equitable, simple, and efficient.
For most people, it is believed that taxes should be impartialand fair. However, there is dispute over the level of equity of a tax. Some believe that a tax is fair only if everyone pays the same amount − a flat tax. Others argue that a tax is only fair if wealthier people pay more than those with lower incomes – a progressive tax. Many also argue over the equity of tax loopholes seeing that they allow some people to get out of paying certain taxes.
Another standard for taxes is simplicity. Tax laws should be written in an intelligible manner so that both the taxpayer and the tax collector can understand them. Though it is not an easy task, people are more willing to pay their taxes if they understand them.
Efficiency is the final principle of taxation. A tax should be easy to administer and to gain money from. The income tax fits into this category. An employer withholds a portion of each employee's pay and then sends a single check to the government on a regular basis. At the end of the year the employer notifies each employee of the amount of tax withheld.
Principles of Taxation
The benefit principle of taxation is based on two ideas. The first and foremost is that those who benefit from services should be the ones who pay for them. Secondly, people should pay taxes in proportion to the amount of services or benefits they receive. But there are two limitations to this type of taxation. First, many government services provide the greatest benefit to those who can least afford to pay for them (i.e. welfare). The second limitation is that the benefits often are hard to measure.
The second principle of taxation is the ability-to-pay principle, which is based on the idea that people should be taxed according to their ability to pay, regardless of the benefits they receive. This type of tax recognizes that societies are not always able to measure the benefits derived from government spending. It also assumes that people with higher incomes suffer less discomfort paying taxes than people just getting by on their income.
The Three Types of Taxes
The three types of taxes are the proportional tax, the progressive tax, and the regressive tax.
A proportional tax imposes the same percentage of taxation on everyone, regardless of income. If the percentage tax rate is constant, the average tax rate is constant, regardless of income. This means that if a person's income goes up, the percentage of total income paid in taxes does not change.
The second tax, theprogressive tax, imposes a higher percentage rate of taxation on people with higher incomes. Progressive taxes use a marginal tax rate that increases as the amount of taxable income increases. Therefore, the percentage of income paid in taxes increases as income goes up.
The final tax is the regressive tax, which imposes a higher percentage rate of taxation on low incomes than on high incomes. For example, if the state sales tax were 5%, the person with the lower income would pay a greater percentage of their total income in sales tax.
Language notes:
We... have come to accept... – ми … (поступово) порозумілися…;
enforcement of law and public order – забезпечення дотримання закону і громадського порядку;
social engineering – соціальна інженерія: наука, що вивчає методи перебудови суспільства;
social welfare – (амер.) соціальне забезпечення, соціальна допомога;
water and waste management system – система управління водопостачанням і утилізацією відходів;
carbon tax – податок на викиди вуглекислого газу;
direct tax – прямий податок, тобто податок, що стягується державою безпосередньо з доходів чи майна платника податку (прибутковий податок – income tax, податок на прибуток підприємств – corporation income tax, податок зі спадку і дарунку – inheritance/gift tax, податок на майно фізичних осіб – personal wealth/property tax, податок на видобування корисних копалин – severance tax под.);
indirect tax –непрямий податок, тобто податок на товари та послуги, встановлений у вигляді надбавки до ціни або тарифом (акциз – excise tax, податок на додану вартість – value-added tax, мито – customs duty, екологічні податки – environmentally related taxes/charges/fees/duties);
tax loophole – "шпарина" в податковому законодавстві;
if one were asked whether they would trade the tax for the removal of service, they would rather ... – якщо б кого-небудь запитали, що б він вибрав: платити податок або обійтися без якоїсь послуги, він скоріше б...
if the state sales tax were 5%, the person with the lower income would pay… – якби податок на купівлю (продаж) був 5%, людина з більш низьким доходом платила би...
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