Government revenue programs

How do health savings accounts work? How do flexible spending accounts for health care expenses work? What are health reimbursement arrangements and how do they work? How might the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance ESI be reformed? Taxes and Homeownership What are the tax benefits of homeownership? Do existing tax incentives increase homeownership? Taxes and Education What tax incentives exist for higher education?

What tax incentives exist to help families pay for college? What tax incentives exist to help families save for education expenses? What is the tax treatment of college and university endowments? Tax Complexity Why are taxes so complicated? What are the benefits of simpler taxes? What policy reforms could simplify the tax code? Wealth Transfer Taxes How do the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes work?

Who pays the estate tax? How many people pay the estate tax? What is the difference between carryover basis and a step-up in basis? How could we reform the estate tax? What are the options for taxing wealth transfers? What is an inheritance tax? Payroll Taxes What are the major federal payroll taxes, and how much money do they raise? What is the unemployment insurance trust fund, and how is it financed?

What are the Social Security trust funds, and how are they financed? Are the Social Security trust funds real? What is the Medicare trust fund, and how is it financed? Excise Taxes What are the major federal excise taxes, and how much money do they raise? What is the Highway Trust Fund, and how is it financed? Energy and Environmental Taxes What tax incentives encourage energy production from fossil fuels? What tax incentives encourage alternatives to fossil fuels?

What is a carbon tax? Business Taxes How does the corporate income tax work? What are pass-through businesses? How are pass-through businesses taxed? Is corporate income double-taxed?

Tax Incentives for Economic Development What is the new markets tax credit, and how does it work? What are Opportunity Zones and how do they work? Taxes and Multinational Corporations How does the current system of international taxation work? What are the consequences of the new US international tax system?

How does the tax system affect US competitiveness? How would formulary apportionment work? What are inversions, and how will TCJA affect them? What is a territorial tax and does the United States have one now? What is the TCJA repatriation tax and how does it work?

What is the TCJA base erosion and anti-abuse tax and how does it work? What is global intangible low-taxed income and how is it taxed under the TCJA? What is foreign-derived intangible income and how is it taxed under the TCJA? Comprehensive Tax Reform What is comprehensive tax reform?

What are the major options for comprehensive tax reform? Broad-Based Income Tax What is a broad-based income tax? What would and would not be taxed under a broad-based income tax? What would the tax rate be under a broad-based income tax?

National Retail Sales Tax What is a national retail sales tax? What would and would not be taxed under a national retail sales tax? What would the tax rate be under a national retail sales tax? If you have ever wondered how central governments get the money to run the affairs of their respective countries, then this article is just what you need.

There are so many sources of government revenue. In this article we shall take a look at 5 major sources of government revenue. Without the collection of taxes, no country can be run. Taxes are the monies that you are required by law to pay to the government according to the amount of income money you receive, the property you have, etc. Taxes are what the government uses to pay for public services.

All businesses and individuals pay taxes. There are so many types of taxes. Examples include direct and indirect taxes.

Federal funds are general revenues, meaning Congress and the president can decide to spend them on just about anything when they conduct the annual appropriations process see our explanation of the federal budget process. Unlike federal funds, trust funds can be used only to pay for specific programs. The vast majority of trust fund revenues pay for Social Security and Medicare.

The U. Constitution Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the power to collect taxes. Early federal taxation was mostly in the form of excise taxes on goods such as alcohol and tobacco. Although an income tax existed briefly during the Civil War, it wasn't until , with the ratification of the XVI Amendment to the Constitution, that income taxes became permanent.

At that time fewer than 1 percent of people with the highest incomes paid income taxes. Nowadays, more than million American households file a federal tax return each year, and those income taxes make up the federal government's single largest revenue source. That is, the wealthy are meant to pay a larger percentage of their earnings than middle- or low-income earners. Due to the complexity of the tax code, however, this is not always the way it works out. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile.

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By Kimberly Amadeo. Learn about our editorial policies. Reviewed by Somer G. Anderson is CPA, doctor of accounting, and an accounting and finance professor who has been working in the accounting and finance industries for more than 20 years. Her expertise covers a wide range of accounting, corporate finance, taxes, lending, and personal finance areas.