History A tax protester, in the United States, is a person who denies that he or she owes a tax based on the belief that the constitution, statutes, or regulations do not empower the government to impose, assess or collect the tax. The tax protester may have no dispute with how the government spends its revenue. This differentiates a tax protester from a America: Freedom to Fascism America: Freedom to Fascism is a 2006 film by Aaron Russo, which alleges among a variety of claims that income tax is illegal The Law that Never Was The Law That Never Was: The Fraud of the 16th Amendment and Personal Income Tax is a 1985 book by William J. Benson and Martin J. "Red" Beckman which claims that the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, commonly known as the income tax amendment, was never properly ratified. In 2007, and again in 2009, Benson's Cheek v. United States Cheek v. United States, 498 U.S. 192 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that a tax protester's belief that he was not violating the Federal tax law based on a misunderstanding caused by the complexity of the tax law itself—if a genuine, good faith, actually held belief—would be a valid defense to charges of tax evasion,
Notable tax protesters Irwin Schiff Irwin A. Schiff is a prominent figure in the tax protester movement. Schiff is known for writing and promoting literature that claims the United States income tax is applied incorrectly. He has lost several civil cases against the federal government and has a record of multiple convictions for various federal tax crimes. Schiff is serving a 13- Richard Michael Simkanin Richard Michael Simkanin is a tax protester serving a prison sentence after having been convicted on twenty-nine counts of United States federal tax crimes Robert Clarkson Robert Barnwell Clarkson was an American tax protester in South Carolina. Clarkson graduated in 1969 from Clemson University with a bachelor of arts degree in economics. He served as a platoon leader in the Vietnam War. Clarkson graduated from South Carolina Law School in 1974 · Tom Cryer Tommy K. Cryer, also known as Tom Cryer , is an attorney in Shreveport, Louisiana who was charged with and later acquitted of willful failure to file U.S. Federal income tax returns in a timely fashion Vivien Kellems Vivien Kellems, was a Connecticut industrialist who fought the U.S. federal government for over 25 years over withholding under 26 USC §3402, and other aspects of income tax in the United States. She was also a fervent supporter of voting reform and the Equal Rights Amendment Wayne C. Bentson Bentson operated Western Information Network and the Bentson Group until May 1997. He represented himself as a tax expert and told his clients that they did not need to pay federal income tax Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. He has starred in numerous action-adventures, thrillers, and dramatic feature films and is well known for his role as Blade in the Blade trilogy. Snipes formed a production company titled Amen-Ra Films in 1991 and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for
Australia There are many forms of taxation in Australia. Individuals and companies in Australia may be required to pay taxes or charges to all levels of government: local, state, and federal governments. Taxes are collected to pay for public services and transfer payments • British Virgin Islands Taxation in the British Virgin Islands is simple by comparative standards; photocopies of all of the tax laws of the British Virgin Islands would together amount to about 200 pages of paper. Taxation in the British Virgin Islands is mostly notable for what is not subject to taxation. The British Virgin Islands has: Canada The level of Taxation in Canada is average among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Approximately 70% of the Canadian government's income comes from taxation, the rest from tariffs, fees, and investments.[citation needed] • China Taxes provide the most important revenue source for the Government of the People's Republic of China. As the most important source of fiscal revenue, tax is a key economic player of macro-economic regulation, and greatly affects China's economic and social development. With the changes made since the 1994 tax reform, China has preliminarily set up • Colombia Taxation in Colombia is determined by the Congress of Colombia, the Departments of Colombia Assemblies and the Municipalities of Colombia councils, which determine what kind of taxes can be levied and which rates can be applied France Taxation in France is determined by the yearly budget vote by the French Parliament, which determines which kinds of taxes can be levied and which rates can be applied • Germany Taxes in Germany—being a Federal Republic—are levied by the Federation , the States (Länder) as well as the Municipalities (Gemeinden). Many direct and indirect taxes exist, whereof income tax and VAT are the most relevant. The German word for tax is die Steuer which originates from the Old High German word stiura meaning help. It should not • Hong Kong Categories: Taxation in Hong Kong | Hong Kong legislation | India Taxes in India are levied by the Central Government and the State Governments. Some minor taxes are also levied by the local authorities such the Municipality or the Local Council • Indonesia Indonesian taxation is based on Article 23A of UUD 1945 , where tax is an enforceable contribution exposed on all Indonesian citizens, foreign nationals and residents who have resided for 120 cumulative days within a twelve month period. Indonesia has a stratification of taxation including Income Tax, Local Tax (Pajak Daerah) and Central • Ireland The system of taxation in the Republic of Ireland is broadly similar to the system of taxation in the United Kingdom Netherlands Some of the most important taxes are that of the income tax , the wage withholding tax (Wet op de loonbelasting 1964), the value added tax (Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968) and the corporate tax (Wet op de vennootschapsbelasting 1969) • New Zealand Taxation in New Zealand is collected at a national level by the Inland Revenue Department on behalf of the Government of New Zealand. National taxes are levied on personal and business income, as well as on the supply of goods and services. There is no capital gains tax, although certain "gains" such as profits on the sale of patent Peru The income tax in Peru is collected by the Superintendencia Nacional de Administración Tributaria, best known as SUNAT. This country uses a system of progressive taxation on personal income, and a flat rate tax on business income • Russia The Russian Tax Code is the primary tax law for the Russian Federation. The Code was created, adopted and implemented in three stages. Part One, enacted July 31, 1998, also referred to as the General Part, regulates relationships among taxpayers, tax agents, tax-collecting authorities and legislators: tax audit procedures, resolution of disputes • Singapore Individual income tax in Singapore forms part of two main sources of income tax in Singapore, the other being corporate taxes on companies. Payable on an annual basis, it is currently based on the progressive tax system , with taxes ranging from 0% to 20% since Year of Assessment 2007. The Year of Assessment (YA) is based on the calendar year Switzerland Taxes in Switzerland are levied by the Swiss Confederation, the cantons and the municipalities. Switzerland is sometimes considered a tax haven due to its general low rate of taxation, its political stability as well as the various tax exemptions or reductions available to Swiss companies doing business abroad, or foreign persons resident in • Tanzania In Tanzania the Income Tax Act, 2004 came into effect in July 2004. This act restructured the income tax system in line with modern requirements and repealed the previous Income Tax Act, 1973. Tax is levied on income from employment, income from business and income from investment. Taxable persons include entities and individuals. An entity can be Thailand • United Kingdom Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to a minimum of two different levels of government: The central government and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income tax, National Insurance contributions, value added tax, corporation tax and fuel duty. Local government revenues come primarily from grants from United States Taxation in the United States is a complex system which may involve payment to many different levels of government and many methods of taxation. United States taxation includes local government, possibly including one or more of municipal, township, district and county governments. It also includes regional entities such as school and utility, and • European Union Value added tax is similar to a sales tax. It is a tax on the estimated market value added to a product or material at each stage of its manufacture or distribution, ultimately passed on to the consumer. Maurice Lauré, Joint Director of the French Tax Authority, the Direction générale des impôts, was first to introduce VAT on April 10, 1954,
Tax rates around the world Comparison of tax rates around the world is difficult and somewhat subjective. Tax laws in most countries are extremely complex, and tax burden falls differently on different groups in each country and sub-national unit. The lists below give an indication by rank of some raw indicators Tax revenue as % of GDP This article lists countries by total tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product for the listed countries. Three sources are used, one for each column. The tax percentage for each country listed in the sources has been added to the chart
Under the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language Internal Revenue Code The Internal Revenue Code is the main body of domestic statutory tax law of the United States organized topically, including laws covering the income tax (see Income tax in the United States), payroll taxes, gift taxes, estate taxes and statutory excise taxes. The Internal Revenue Code is published as Title 26 of the United States Code (USC), and, the type of income is defined by its character. Ordinary income is usually characterized as income other than capital gain A capital gain is a profit that results from investments into a capital asset, such as stocks, bonds or real estate, which exceeds the purchase price. It is the difference between a higher selling price and a lower purchase price, resulting in a financial gain for the investor. Conversely, a capital loss arises if the proceeds from the sale of a. Ordinary income can consist of income from wages A wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by workers in exchange for their labor, salaries A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis, tips, commissions The payment of commission as remuneration for services rendered or products sold is a common way to reward sales people. Payments often will be calculated on the basis of a percentage of the goods sold. This is a way for firms to solve the principal-agent problem, by attempting to realign employees interests with those of the firm, bonuses, and other types of compensation from employment, interest Interest is a fee paid on borrowed assets. It is the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or, money earned by deposited funds. Assets that are sometimes lent with interest include money, shares, consumer goods through hire purchase, major assets such as aircraft, and even entire factories in finance lease arrangements. The interest is, dividends Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be paid to the shareholders as a dividend. Many corporations retain a, or net income Net income is the remaining income of a firm after adding total revenue and gains and subtracting all expenses and losses for the reporting period. Net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as an addition to retained earnings. As profit and earnings are used synonymously for income , Net Earnings from a sole proprietorship A sole proprietorship also known as a sole trader, or simply proprietorship is a type of business entity which is owned and run by one individual and where there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business. All profits and all losses accrue to the owner . All assets of the business are owned by the proprietor and all debts of the, partnership or LLC. Rents and royalties, after certain deductions, depreciation or depletion allowances, and gambling winnings are also treated as ordinary income. A "short term capital gain", or gain on the sale of an asset held for less than one year of the capital gains holding period, is taxed as ordinary income.
Ordinary income stands in contrast to capital gains, which is defined as gain from the sale or exchange of a capital asset. The definition of capital asset under the tax law can be explained by noting that your house is a capital asset to you the homeowner but if you bought it from a land developer who had many houses on many lots, each of those houses was inventory when he sold them and hence was not a capital asset to him, just as clothing would be inventory and not a capital asset to a department store.
Another case where income is not taxed as ordinary income is with qualified dividends. The general rule taxes dividends as ordinary income. A change allowing use of the same tax rates as for long term capital gains rates for qualified dividends was made with the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.[1] Qualified dividends are dividends paid by domestic corporations or by corporations from foreign countries that have a tax treaty with the US. This applies under the condition that the corporation has included the dividends in its own taxable income. Thus passthrough corporations like REITs and REMICs would not distribute qualified dividends and would be taxed at the ordinary income rates.
Contents |
Rates
In the United States, ordinary income is taxed at the marginal tax rates. As of 2006, there are six "tax brackets" ranging from 10% to 35%. Ordinary income is taxed within the particular tax bracket listed on the rate schedules or tax tables as a percentage for each dollar within that bracket. However, after the 2003 Tax Cut, qualified dividends and long-term capital gains are taxed at the same rate of 15% (5% if the taxpayer is low income).
See also
Notes
References
- 2007 U.S. Master Tax Guide. CCH, 2006
External links
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Categories: United States federal income tax |
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