Варламова А.И., Дигтяр О.Ю, М.В. Мельничук, В.М. Осипова

Учебник по английскому языку для студентов 3 курса

 

Contents

UNIT 1. 5

PART 1. 5

TOPIC FOCUS: The history of taxation in the world. 5

PART 2. 15

TOPIC FOCUS: Tax planning. 15

PART 3. 24

TOPIC FOCUS: 5 Year-End Tax Strategies You Don’t Want to Miss. 24

Taxes throughout Russian history. 26

Taxes in Kievan Rus’: Poliudie andPovoz. 26

UNIT 2. 28

PART 1. 28

TOPIC FOCUS: The Russian tax system.. 28

PART 2. 39

TOPIC FOCUS: Roles of Tax Consultants. 39

Taxes throughout Russian history. 50

Poliudie. 50

UNIT 3. 53

PART 1. 53

TOPIC FOCUS: Special tax treatments. 53

PART 2. 63

TOPIC FOCUS: Tax Accounting Careers. 63

PART 3. 72

TOPIC FOCUS: 5 Ways to Short Bitcoin. 72

CASE STUDY.. 74

Taxes throughout Russian history. 75

"Any owner has to part with what has fallen from the cart”. 75

Russian road duty “Myto”. 77

UNIT 4. 79

PART 1. 79

TOPIC FOCUS: Functions of Taxation. 79

PART 2. 89

TOPIC FOCUS: Key Taxation Vocabulary. 89

PART 3. 98

TOPIC FOCUS: How the GOP* Tax Bill Affects You. 98

Taxes throughout Russian history. 99

Tribute to the Golden Horde. 100

UNIT 5. 103

PART 1. 103

TOPIC FOCUS: Classes of taxes. 103

PART 2. 113

TOPIC FOCUS: Direct and Indirect Taxes. 114

PART 3. 121

TOPIC FOCUS: How Will Your Tax Bracket Change?. 121

Taxes throughout Russian history. 124

The tamga tax. 124

UNIT 6. 126

PART 1. 126

TOPIC FOCUS: Corporate profit tax. 126

PART 2. 136

TOPIC FOCUS: Corporate Income Tax. 136

PART 3. 144

TOPIC FOCUS: What Is An ICO?. 144

CASE STUDY.. 146

One of the Three Certain Things in Life: Taxes, Taxes, and More Taxes. 146

Taxes throughout Russian history. 147

The salt tax. 147

UNIT 7. 150

PART 1. 150

TOPIC FOCUS: VAT. 150

PART 2. 158

TOPIC FOCUS: How VAT works. 158

PART 3. 168

TOPIC FOCUS: I want to start my own ICO. How do I do that?. 168

UNIT 8. 175

PART 1. 175

TOPIC FOCUS: The Mechanism of VAT collection. 175

PART 2. 184

TOPIC FOCUS: Capital Gains Tax. 184

PART 3. 195

TOPIC FOCUS: How Interest Rates Affect Property Values. 195

Taxes throughout Russian history. 197

The beard tax. 197

UNIT 9. 200

PART 1. 200

TOPIC FOCUS: An Excise. 200

PART 2. 207

TOPIC FOCUS: Roles of Tax Authorities. 207

CASE STUDY.. 219

One of the Three Certain Things in Life: Taxes, Taxes, and More Taxes. 219

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Для заметок. Ошибка! Закладка не определена.

References………………………………………………………………………………………239

 

UNIT 1

PART 1                  

TOPIC FOCUS: The history of taxation in the world

Discuss these questions with a partner.

1. What do you know about the history of taxation?

2. What countries have the lowest and the highest taxes?

3. Can taxes be negative or positive?

4. Is it possible to have “rational” tax system?

Exercise 1.

Practice reading the following words and collocations.

a) approximately; bureaucracies; diverse; eventual; failure; fifth; foreigner; grievance; headgear; issue; jurisdiction; militiamen; partially; significantly; stationary; surplus; throughout;thus;turmoil; wearisome; welfare; weird;

b) ancient civilizations; centralized governments; Chinese societies; effort; European and Mediterranean civilizations; Egyptian Pharaohs; excessive tax burden; Greeks, Egyptians and Romans; functional equivalent;hefty duties; Jews and Christians; medieval period; mercenary force; monarch; Muslim conquerors; previously purchased; tax legislation; tax records;

c) accumulate;be dedicated to smth.; be obligated to do smth.; be subject to smth.; enforce tax policies; ensure; weigh heavily on smth.

The history of taxation

The basic principles of taxation are nearly as old as human society—the history of taxes stretches thousands of years into the past. Several ancient civilizations, including the Greeks and Romans, levied taxes on their citizens to pay for military expenses and other public services. Taxation evolved significantly as empires expanded and civilizations became more structured.

The earliest known tax records, dating from approximately six thousand years B.C., are in the form of clay tablets found in the ancient city-state of Lagash in modern day Iraq. This early form of         taxation was kept to a minimum, except during periods of conflict or hardship.

The Greeks, Egyptians and Romans also enforced tax policies that they used to fund centralized governments. The Greeks levied several types of taxes that are still enforced in many developed countries, including taxes on property and goods. Unlike early Greek taxation, the Roman policies began to weigh heavily on the citizens as the power and corruption of the empire’s central government grew. The excessive tax burden on productive Roman citizens during the 4^th and 5^th centuries was a leading cause of the nation’s eventual economic collapse.

Early taxation was not limited to European and Mediterranean civilizations, ancient Chinese societies also levied taxes on their citizens. The Chinese instituted a form of property tax around 600 B.C. that required 10 percent of cultivated land to be dedicated to the central government. All produce generated from the dedicated portion of land was taken as a tax.

Fair taxation was a key issue for many English citizens during the medieval period. Most citizens were subject to a poll tax, which was a flat tax on every adult in a jurisdiction, as well as property and church taxes. Even peasants that did not own land had to pay property taxes on land that they rented. They were also obligated to donate 10 percent of their labor or produce to the church.

In 1215, a large portion of the English nobility revolted against their monarch, King John, who had implemented new taxes and increased existing ones to finance his military ambitions in continental Europe. The king levied more taxes to help pay for a large-scale conflict, including hiring a large mercenary force, and to make up for the loss of taxable territories in France during the war. Many land-owning nobles did not trust King John’s leadership and did not feel responsible for supporting the war effort.

While turmoil and provincial strife dominated European politics, a unified and expansive empire emerged in the Middle East. Muslim conquerors took over a large portion of northern Africa and the Mediterranean region during the 14^th and 15^th centuries. They ruled over a diverse collection of populations, including nomads, Jews and Christians, who were subject to special forms of taxation that did not apply to Muslim citizens. Stationary societies that did not convert to the beliefs and traditions of Islam had to pay a special tax.

Taxation policies developed quickly during the colonial period as wealth began to flow into Europe from colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Great Britain enforced the first general income tax in 1799 to help finance their war against Napoleonic France. This tax was also scaled according to income, much like the income taxes levied in most modern systems.

The dispute between the American colonists and the English crown that eventually led to the American Revolution is partially attributed to disputes concerning fair taxation. The colonist’s main grievance with the tax policy was distilled into a simple phrase, “No taxation without representation.” While the colonists were forced to pay taxes to England, including hefty duties on staples like tea and stamps, they did not receive any direct representation in Parliament or in the monarch’s court.

When the United States was founded, the federal government levied relatively few taxes. The country did not maintain a significant military force during times of peace. Instead, it relied on local militiamen for protection from marauders and local rebellions. The central government was also much smaller than it is now, and required much less money to maintain. As the new country developed, it encountered several crises and conflicts that prompted changes to the tax code.

The first federal income tax in the United States was created shortly after the Civil War to pay for the debts accrued during the costly internal conflict. The tax was not universal; it was only applied to citizens above a certain income level. This federal income tax was repealed in the 1870s, but a later administration created new federal tax legislation in 1894.

Many European nations also adopted income taxes during the 19^th century. The unifying Prussian influence over many of the independent German states helped entrench the principles of income tax in continental Europe.

 

Exercise 2.