Verified Document

Tax The Benefit Principle Of Term Paper

Tax

The Benefit Principle of Taxation

The benefit principle of taxation asserts that government goods and services -- the things funded with tax monies collected -- should be paid for by those that consume these goods and services, to the degree that they consume them (421-2). In other words, the amount of tax someone pays should, according to those that hold a belief in this principle, be commensurate with the amount of benefits that person receives from the government goods and services consumed. There are many practical problems with this principle, not the least of which is measuring the amount of benefits an individual in society might consume. In addition, such a tax would likely be regressive and thus unpopular and overly onerous. These two problems are actually closely interconnected.

At first glance, and perhaps realistically, those that are lower on the socioeconomic ladder in a society tend to consume more government goods and services. Medicare, in addition to covering the elderly, is made available to lower-income individuals, and other direct assistance programs also go to these individuals. Combined with other goods and services such as road maintenance and other infrastructure, national security, etc., which are all consumed essentially evenly (again, in one perspective), this would mean that those at the lowest end of the economic spectrum consume the most and should pay the most -- a regressive tax that places the largest burden on those with the least ability to pay (417). In another perspective, however, those with high levels of income, wealth, and consumption benefit a much greater degree from the general services the government provides. The owner of a company benefits from the roads each time an employee drives into work, and from airwaves every time an Internet sale is made, and so on. Calculated thus, the benefit principle would lead to a progressive tax (416).

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Tax Loophole Income Tax Foreign
Words: 2515 Length: 8 Document Type: Research Paper

S. domestic law, a U.S. citizen or resident (Non U.S. person) who is a beneficiary of a foreign retirement plan would be subjected to the existing U.S. income taxation on all of the income that is accrued in their foreign investment plans even though their income is never currently distributed per se to the beneficiary. This should be the case unless the foreign retirement plan accounts as the employee's trust

Tax Evasion and Tax
Words: 3179 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

Tax Avoidance vs. Tax Evasion The main objective of a tax advisor is to assist his/her clients avoid taxes as much as possible through within the confines of the law in order to avoid crossing the line into tax evasion. In this case, the tax advisor guides his/her clients based on the law regarding tax avoidance and tax evasion. This paper focuses on comparing the concepts of tax avoidance and tax

Tax Revenue Analysis for the
Words: 3540 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

The general fund collects over 86% of the total tax revenues and is the primary funding source for most commonwealth agencies. General fund tax revenues The largest significant source of tax revenues net of refunds is personal income tax. Reported personal income tax accounts for 38% of all tax revenues reported. Sales tax, which represents a tax on various items purchased by consumers, is the second largest category. Reported sales tax

Tax Case Study
Words: 4381 Length: 16 Document Type: Case Study

Tax Case Study Requirement Tax code section 721 "provides that no gain or loss shall be recognized to a partnership or to any of its partners in the case of a contribution of property to the partnership in exchange for an interest in the partnership." Both parties agreed to contribute personal assets to the partnership, and they, nor the LLC, suffers any tax consequences as a result of the conversion of the

Tax Federal 'Sin Taxes:' to
Words: 1079 Length: 3 Document Type: Research Proposal

Sugary sodas contain corn syrup, but the American Agricultural Department subsidizes American farmers for growing corn, and this is one of the reasons that high-fructose corn syrup is so ubiquitous in the food supply. We are taxing corn syrup and subsidizing it at the same time, in other words. "The bigger issue, which the industry neither can nor particularly cares to rebut, is that the product [corn syrup] exists

Unemployment and Tax Reform on Our Social
Words: 3043 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

unemployment and tax reform on our social structure including theoretical framework on functionalism, social conflict and symbolic framework and so on and so forth. The Works Cited eight sources in MLA format. Unemployment Unemployment has long been the cause of ruin of the American society as well as the global social structure. Persistence in unemployment and the related tax reforms have done much harm than have benefited the mankind on this

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now