The primary means by which governments raise revenue. Taxes can be levied on almost any aspect of economic activity.
Questions tagged [taxes]
65 questions
148
votes
1 answer
Did Amazon pay $0 in US taxes in 2018?
Background
I saw this article saying that Amazon paid $0 in corporate income tax last year. Is this true or just phrased to sound like they are getting away with paying nothing?
Here's the article: Amazon’s $0 corporate income tax bill last year,…
Noah Cristino
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75
votes
2 answers
Does Shell get $2 billion a year in subsidies from the US government?
While browsing reddit, I saw the following graphic from the Late Stage Capitalism subreddit:
(Two stick figures are shown, the second one with Shell's logo for a head)
This is Bob.
Bob gets $1,500/year in food stamps so his family doesn't…
Mark Rogers
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60
votes
1 answer
If American churches paid taxes, how much revenue would that generate?
A recent Cracked.com photoplasty contest produced this image:
Is this image correct? Would taxing churches generate that much money, and would that much money be enough to cover food stamps and house the homeless? At what tax rate would churches…
Publius
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57
votes
2 answers
Can the US government garnish 100% of your income?
I was reading a Wikipedia article about Karl Hess. The article contained this quote (emphasis mine):
During that time [1967], President Johnson, a Democrat, ordered the Internal Revenue Service to audit him [Hess]. When Hess asked if a certain…
Erik
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54
votes
4 answers
Are US workers legally required to pay income taxes?
In the 2006 film America: Freedom to Fascism, several interviews are shown which claim that American workers do not need to pay income tax. Specifically, this clip claims that
There is no law which requires the average American worker (in the
…
Reubend
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52
votes
3 answers
Are razor blades tax-free in the UK?
A comic by artist Naoise Dolan published March 2015 has been circulating heavily on social media:
The world according to the UK government:
Men’s razors are taxed as necessities because you need to avoid stubble
Women’s sanitary products are taxed…
Comic Sans Strikephim
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52
votes
3 answers
Do rich companies pay little/no corporate income taxes in the United States?
It's a fairly common "fact" that if you make enough money, that you can hire lawyers who can hide all of your money, so that you end up paying little to no tax. Is this true?
PearsonArtPhoto
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49
votes
2 answers
Does the United States have more tax preparers than police and firefighters combined?
According to The Economist (May 13th, 2017, print edition, webpage),
America has more tax preparers—over 1m, according to a project at
George Washington University—than it has police and firefighters
combined.
Is this true?
user17967
45
votes
2 answers
2 % of 'the rich' pay 50 % of taxes in Germany
A statement made by a user under a news article claims that 50 % of all taxes are paid by 'rich people' being defined as making more than 70.000 €/a.
(...) 2% der "Reichen" zahlen 50% der Steuern in Deutschland. (...)
This freely translates…
OddDev
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40
votes
2 answers
Were the women of Travancore, India, taxed for covering their breasts by breast size?
There are some claims regarding a weird tax which existed just over a century ago in a part of India.
Several articles say that this tax existed. For example, the Economic Times:
State of Travancore imposed a breast tax on women belonging to…
Jayadevan Vijayan
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31
votes
1 answer
Is there economic data to suggest whether or not trickle-down economics provides a net increase in standards of living?
One of the chief arguments for Reagan's fiscal policy of trickle-down economics was "money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy." Essentially that by providing tax cuts and write-offs to wealthy…
Mark Rogers
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31
votes
4 answers
Did Swedish tax rate ever exceed 100%?
In several places I've seen the claim that some people have at some point in history paid more than 100% taxes in Sweden.
The Economist on the Nordic Countries:
Astrid Lindgren, the inventor of Pippi Longstocking, was forced to pay more than 100%…
gerrit
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30
votes
2 answers
Do Greeks evade taxes by not finishing their houses?
I've heard this claim several times:
Q: Why are there so many unfinished houses in Greece?
A: as long as the house is not finished, they don't have to pay building tax for it. So the leave it unfinished in order to evade this tax.
Is this true?
oefe
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28
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Does 20% of the population pay 80% of Federal income tax in the US?
I have heard this used in arguments (and even used it myself several times): that 20% of the US population pays 80% of the taxes. But I am starting to wonder if that is statistically accurate.
Also, as a sub-question, I have also heard that 40% of…
Ephraim
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27
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Did NASA receive a tax refund on a diamond window when it left the Earth aboard a space probe?
According to Hughesscgheritage.com:
“Probe” is an export; diamond duty saved—Hughes News January 6, 1979
The cost of HAC’s highly successful Pioneer Venus mission was reduced by $12,474 because of an agreement established 10 years ago between the…
JonathanReez
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