...Taxing high-fat foods would be a great way to reduce the incidence of heart disease and help offset the cost of its treatment. While there is an epidemic of obesity in the United States and throughout the world, the cause is not at all well understood. Fat, sugar, lack of exercise, poverty, and giving up smoking have all been cited as reasons for increasing obesity. We are exposed on a daily basis to hundreds of advertisements, many promoting specific foods that are supposed to be convenient and nutritious. The food industry, miraculously, has escaped taking the brunt of the blame for years, using fast food as a scapegoat. Fast food, while a major contributor, is not the primary cause of the obesity epidemic in America. Numerous studies have proven that personal food choices, lack of exercise, and genetic disposition all play a role in a person's weight; however, there are other elements that influence our weight. In particular, food producers that supply products high in sugars, minimally nutritious, and highly processed foods that dominate our market must be examined. Sugar is clearly very deleterious and quite unnecessary for satisfactory nutrition but fat is not an optional part of the human diet. Fat is necessary for health, all your cell membranes are made of cholesterol for example, which makes this qualitatively different from taxing things like cigarettes and alcohol. Also there is no doubt that taxing food is regressive, the poor pay more of their incomes for food...
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...Tax the Rich? Efficiency, Equity, and Progressive Taxation Reuven S. Avi-Yonah† Does Atlas Shrug? The Economic Consequences of Taxing the Rich. Edited by Joel B. Slemrod.∗ Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000. Pp. 524. $57.95. In Greek mythology, Atlas was a giant who carried the world on his shoulders. In Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Atlas represents the “ prime movers” —the talented few who bear the weight of the world’s economy.1 In the novel, the prime movers go on strike against the oppressive burden of excessive regulation and taxation, leaving the world in disarray and demonstrating how indispensable they are to the rest of us (the “ second handers” ). Rand wrote in a world in which the top marginal federal income tax rate in the United States was 91% (beginning at taxable income of $400,000).2 This is an unimaginably high rate by today’s standards, when the dominant view in Washington is that a marginal rate of 39.6% (the top † Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law, University of Michigan. I would like to thank Yossi Edrey, Allen Graubard, David Hasen, Judy Herman, Don Herzog, Jim Hines, Bob Kuttner, Doron Lamm, Jeff Lehman, Kyle Logue, Dan Shaviro, Joel Slemrod, Dennis Ventry, and Larry Zelenak for their extremely helpful suggestions. All errors are mine. * Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan. 1. AYN RAND, ATLAS SHRUGGED (1957). 2. Joel B. Slemrod, The Economics of Taxing the Rich, in DOES...
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...never enforced taxes and didn’t even stop people from downloading music media, because they wanted the change in technology to take place in this country. Now that there are so many other thing we can download it’s a problem now that the stores and states are complaining about they are not making a profit and now the Government is trying to step in to make them happy, since there are so many people downloading and purchasing items on the internet. I believe if the economy would not had been like it has due to bad Government management, this issue of taxing media downloads would be an issue at all. The Government, small businesses and different States are seeing the increase in media downloads due to not having much money to spin in the economy, because of no jobs and it’s cheaper with no taxes, now they want the Government to pass a law on taxes media downloads because they are losing a little money. If you notice they are not taxing anything else that are being downloaded like books, magazines, and newspapers, because people are still going to local store and being charged taxes for their purchase. Books sales, magazine sales, and newspapers sales has increased in price do to the technology...
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...everyone can agree upon. I mentioned the progressive tax system previously, and according to Melissa Horton, a financial literacy professional and writer for Investopedia, it can be defined as when “the proportion of tax liability rises as an individual or entity’s income increases” (Horton, Melissa). This means that people whom receive a higher income will as a result pay more taxes as opposed to people who receive a lower income. Many people view this system as being fair because it basically makes the more wealthy individuals put more money in the form of taxes as contributions towards the society. However, there are people who believe that progressive taxing is a way of placing a burden on successful individuals which can lead to people to discourage the idea of working hard. Next we see the flat tax system. Flat taxing is simply taxing every citizen the same rate and percentage of their income regardless of their personal incomes. For example, if the applied tax was 10% of people’s income and my income was 1,000 as opposed to an induvial whose income was 100,000, I would be paying 100 dollars in taxes...
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...only slightly alters the change in quantity demanded. Similarly the number of substitutes available tend to define the elasticity of demand and the proportion of income spent by a person on purchasing the product. The inelastic demand curve is as follows: (Economics13 n.d.) In case of cigarettes, the price elasticity measured for different countries by WHO in their study was less than -1 or inelastic and the addictive nature of cigarettes being cited as the main reason for it. The study however does point out that if the prices are increased for a longer period, the demand might in fact be elastic as people would be impacted more by the increase in prices. The research further suggested that the demand elasticity varies amongst poor and rich countries along with the population demographics. (Perucic, 2012) In general when the prices are increased or taxes are raised on inelastic products, the beneficiary is often the producer or the government as the tax burden would be on the consumers. A tax on cigarettes would mean the consumers bearing a greater tax incidence which would in fact discourage them to spend more on tobacco products. (Tax-inelastic-demand n.d.) As seen in the graph above, a tax imposition on cigarettes would shift the supply curve on the left with the equilibrium quantity reducing from Q to Q 1. The inelastic demand would mean that the tax burden is borne by the consumers whereas the producers bear a small fraction of the tax applied. The government while...
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...businesses were able to create jobs at double the rate during the time Clinton’s policy was in place. In addition, if there was to be any negative effects on the economy because of the tax increase on the wealthy, it would be balanced with the positive effect of using the revenue gain to reduce any budget deficit. Another example of where this initiative had benefited the economy was in Germany. Over there, the wealthy are taxed more, allowing the distribution of income to be more equal. Moreover, in a research paper written by International Monetary Fund, researches have proven that raising taxes for the rich is actually beneficial to the economy. They stated that, “We find that higher inequality seems to lower growth. Redistribution, in contrast, has a tiny and statistically insignificant (slightly negative) effect,”. This statement made in the IMF paper, proves that taxing the rich may actually be...
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...Persuasive Essay: “I want to be able to fit in my jeans without any struggle. I’m sick of hearing these awful names,” says Abby. Obesity is a serious factor in America’s economy and we should realize how bad it is. The obesity rate of America is more than two thirds of the American population. “Statistics say that America’s obesity rate and their poverty rate is almost similar”. Rich Hamburg, the deputy director of Trust for America’s Health comments, “It all comes down to level of physical activity and nutrition- how much are they getting, what kinds of calories are they consuming?” (“Poverty”). To prevent this, America should take action in making their country a healthier place. The country should tax unhealthy foods such as sodas for the people in order to be healthier and prevent obesity. There are many reasons to why America is the first country to have the most obese people in. Obesity rates have increased surprisingly, doubling the rate since the 1970s. This is also a very important case for children. About a quarter of 2 to 5 year olds are obese in America. Obesity is when your weight is 20% more than average weight, compared to your height. This can be called a disease. “Heart stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and different types of cancer can all be caused by just being obese” (“Obesity”). The Site-wide Navigation states that overweight people spend more on health care than the people with other health problems. Researchers have noticed huge lifestyle...
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...The Issue of Income Equality in the US By SOC 100: Intro to Sociology April 29, 2012 A major social problem in America today is its inequality of the distribution of income. "Income inequality refers to the gap between the rich and the poor. The United States has the most unequal income distribution in the industrialized world, and it is growing at a faster rate than any other industrialized country" Bernard Sanders (1997). What's really going on with the economy? - Unequal distribution of wealth and income. [ONLINE] Available at: www.usatoday.com. [Last Accessed 04/27/2012]. Society defines this social issue as the disparity between the few at the very top of the income ladder, and the many at the bottom. Recently, the Occupy Movement has defined this problem has fight between the 1% and the 99%. The social classes that are most impacted by this disparity pretty much cover the spectrum as we are all affected. The most latent effects are probably found in the poor, in single-mothers, and in the minority classes. Those are the classes that have the least amount of economic and social power at the onset. A persons clothing, housing and educational opportunities usually depend on their class, but that is a direct reflection of their income. A person does not gain any class or power without their income being taken into consideration. The only problem is, is that there is also class inequality, which further prohibits people to earn an equal...
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...Tax Reform: An Examination Tax Reform: An Examination A flat tax rate would be beneficial to all Americans. Critics of such proposals generally say that the wealthiest people in the nation would be the ones to benefit the most. The overall flat rate of tax would mean cuts for all Americans. The sheer simplicity of a flat rate is one of its biggest selling points. Rick Perry's plan offered in 2011 was imperfect, but it represented a overall structure and ideas. The focus of the plan scrapped, “the graduated income tax and replace it with a 20 percent flat rate. By throwing out rates as high as 35 percent and eliminating estate and investment taxes, the plan would grant a major tax cut for the wealthy…his proposal would also offer benefits to middle-class Americans by giving a $12,500 deduction for every member of a household while preserving exemptions for state and local taxes, mortgage interest and charitable contributions for anyone making less than $500,000. He said anyone could still file under the current code, and he also pledged to lower the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, from 35 percent” (Oppel, 2011). This means that taxes will be sliced for all groups in America: this will equate to more money for individual Americans, allowing them to make a greater investment in the private economy. The plan was criticized as being ambitious because of the fact that most Americans wanted to see the wealthier...
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...Public Finance Methods in Nigeria The Federal Republic of Nigeria is comprised of 36 states located in West Africa geographically bound by the Republic of Niger to the north, the Gulf of Guinea (on the Atlantic Ocean) to the south, the Republic of Cameroon and Chad on the east and Republic of Benin on the west. Since gaining full independence from the British in 1960, Nigeria has gone from a Parliamentary system of government (modeled after the British Parliament), the Biafran Civil War, and numerous dictatorships to the current Democratic system of government. Widely described as the most populous country in Africa (accounting for over half of West Africa’s population alone[i]), the US State Department estimated in 2010 a population of approximately 152 million people of 250 Ethnic groups with the largest ethnic groups comprising of Hausa-Fulani (north), Igbo (south-east), Yoruba (south-west) and Kanuri (north). The religions practiced in Nigeria are Islam, Christianity and indigenous African traditional worship. The Hausa’s are from the northern part of the country and are predominantly Muslims, the Yoruba are from the south west and are predominately an even mix of Christians and Muslims, the Igbos are from the southeast and are predominately Christians. The official language of Nigeria is English in addition to other local dialects. Nigeria’s commercial capital (and former political capital), Lagos, is located in the southwestern part of the country while the political...
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...Reforming the U.S. Tax Code Martin McDowell Professor Ken Lavery 11/24/13 Reforming the U.S. Tax Code A flat tax rate would be beneficial to all Americans. Critics of such proposals generally say that the wealthiest people in the nation would be the ones to benefit the most. The overall flat rate of tax would mean cuts for all Americans. The sheer simplicity of a flat rate is one of its biggest selling points. Rick Perry's plan offered in 2011 was imperfect, but it represented a overall structure and ideas. The focus of the plan scrapped, “the graduated income tax and replace it with a 20 percent flat rate. By throwing out rates as high as 35 percent and eliminating estate and investment taxes, the plan would grant a major tax cut for the wealthy…his proposal would also offer benefits to middle-class Americans by giving a $12,500 deduction for every member of a household while preserving exemptions for state and local taxes, mortgage interest and charitable contributions for anyone making less than $500,000. He said anyone could still file under the current code, and he also pledged to lower the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, from 35 percent” (Oppel, 2011). This means that taxes will be sliced for all groups in America: this will equate to more money for individual Americans, allowing them to make a greater investment in the private economy. The plan was criticized as being ambitious because of the fact that...
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...article is written about four years ago, at the time it seemed as if it was a silly idea to incorporate an idea that makes certain people pay more than others, some may call this the idea of inequality where some people are treated unfairly then others. But in reality, this makes total sense because the upper class can afford it. Now move ahead to the 2015 election that Justin Trudeau won and part of his democratic plan was to tax the rich, four years ago people that that was silly, well he’s Prime Minister now so most Canadians must have wanted that. And to go back to the original question, “how do we reduce poverty and inequality,” we tax the rich and let the lower class and middle classes enjoy it. Majority of Canadians already fall under the category of middle class and are the ones with the most power in Canada and they might not even know it. And taxing the upper class will bring in a larger amount of money into the economy. It seems we are bringing in older systems in our ways of running the question, just like Adam Smith said, to tax the rich. And look what has happened now, Justin Trudeau is in the position to do this. And once this happens the lower class will be able to earn more money, pay fewer taxes and move into homes and off the streets and possibly be considered into the middle class with over half of...
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...scantiness; insufficiency: Their efforts to stamp out disease were hampered by a poverty of medicalsupplies. Causes of Poverty Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their governments? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deeper and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed. Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people. In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle. Poverty Facts And Stats Most of humanity lives on just a few pennies a day. Whether you live in the wealthiest nations in the world or the poorest, you will see high levels of inequality. The poorest people will also have less access to health, education and other services. Problems of hunger, malnutrition and disease afflict the poorest in society. The poorest are also typically marginalized from society and...
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...Flat Tax Rate Memo To: From: Date: Re: Benefits/burdens of implementing a “Flat Tax” From the U.S. Federal Government to each individual taxpayer in America, everyone cares about how tax is being paid. In this memo, we will discuss the benefits and the burdens of implementing a “flat tax”. The current U.S. tax system is complex. IRS has six federal income tax brackets ranging from 10 to 35 percent. This progressive tax system punishes the most productive members of society with a higher tax rate. Some scholars, such as Dan Mitchell, argue that, “From an economic perspective, the flat tax and the national sales tax (or fair tax) are virtually identical. Both would junk the current system. Both would restore fairness by taxing at one low rate. Both would eliminate all forms of double taxation.” A flat tax is a single rate that spans all income brackets of taxpayers, rather than the current “progressive” system, which taxes higher-income individuals at increased rates and includes numerous deductions and exemptions. From the article Ramifications of a Flat Tax—Shifting the Burden to the Middle Class, the author states that, because many taxpayers believe the current tax system is not good enough, it needs to be changed. Therefore, the article introduces two flat tax systems to replace the current tax system, one is the Forbes’ Plan and another one is the Hall and Rabushka Plan. The models of these two plans are as follow: 1. Forbes Simulation Model Tax...
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...Reduce Poverty? | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Information to Analysis JANUARY 23, 2014 Most See Inequality Growing, but Partisans Differ over Solutions 54% Favor Taxing the Wealthy to Expand Aid to Poor http://www.people-press.org/2014/01/23/most-see-inequality-growing-but-partisans-differ-over-solutions/ There is broad public agreement that economic inequality has grown over the past decade. But as President Obama prepares for Tuesday's State of the Union, where he is expected to unveil proposals for dealing with inequality and poverty, there are wide partisan differences over how much the government should - and can - do to address these issues. The new national survey by the Pew Research Center and USA TODAY, conducted Jan. 15-19 among 1,504 adults, finds that 65% believe the gap between the rich and everyone else has increased in the last 10 years. This view is shared by majorities across nearly all groups in the public, including 68% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans. Yet there is a sharp disagreement over whether this gap needs government attention. Among Democrats, 90% say the government should do "a lot" or "some" to reduce the gap between the rich and everyone else, including 62% who say it should do a lot. But only half as many Republicans (45%) think the government should do something about this gap, with just 23% saying it should do a lot. Instead, nearly half of Republicans say the...
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