Week 3
Text. “Tax”
Grammar: Mood. The Indicative Mood. The Imperative Mood. The Subjunctive Mood
Communicative practice: “Getting around town”
Text. Tax
A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e.g., tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). Taxes could also be imposed by a subnational entity.
Taxes may be paid in cash or in kind or as corvee labor. In modern capitalist taxation systems, taxes are designed to encourage the most efficient circulation of goods and services and are levied in cash. In kind and corvee taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their functional equivalents. The means of taxation, and the uses to which the funds raised through taxation should be put, are a matter of hot dispute in politics and economics, so discussions of taxation are frequently tendentious.
Public finance is the field of political science and economics that deals with taxation.
HISTORY OF TAXATION
Political authority has been used to raise capital throughout history. In many pre-monetary societies, such as the Incan empire, taxes were owed in labor. Taxation in labor was the basis of the Feudal system in medieval Europe.
In more sophisticated economies such as the Roman Empire, tax farming developed, as the central powers could not practically enforce their tax policy across a wide realm. The tax farmers were obligated to raise large sums for the government, but were allowed to keep whatever else they raised.
Many Christians have understood the New Testament to support the payment of taxes, through Jesus's words " Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's".
There were certain times in the Middle Ages where the governments did not explicitly tax, since they were self-supporting, owning their own land and creating their own products. The appearance of doing without taxes was however illusory, since the government's (usually the Crown's) independent income sources depended on labor enforced under the feudal system, which is a tax exacted in kind.
Many taxes were originally introduced to fund wars and are still in place today, such as those raised by the American government during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Income tax was first introduced into Britain in 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars and into Canada in 1917 as a "temporary" tax under the Income War Tax Act to cover government expenses resulting from World War I.
The current income tax in America was set up by Theodore Roosevelt in 1913. It was called The Federal Income Tax and was deducted from incomes at rates varying from 1-7%. But, since then, the American Tax Code has been modified and new taxes have been added, especially over the World War I and II periods. Since World War II, the American Tax Code has increased in size four-fold.
| 1. | What is the definition of a tax? | ||
| 2. | How can taxes be paid? | ||
| 3. | How were taxes paid in medieval Europe? | ||
| 4. | Why were many taxes originally introduced? | ||
| 5. | What kind of document describes what taxes people have to pay? | ||
| tax | - | налог (обязательный, индивидуально безвозмездный платеж, взимаемый с юридических и физических лиц в форме отчуждения принадлежащих им на праве собственности, хозяйственного ведения или оперативного управления денежных средств в целях финансового обеспечения деятельности государства и (или) муниципальных образований) | |
| compulsory[kqm'pAls(q)rI] | - | принудительный, обязательный | |
| charge[tSRdZ] | - | 1) сбор, поступления, отчисления; цена; комиссия (за услуги); плата; 2) занесение [запись] на счет; запись в долг, долг; дебетовая запись, запись по дебету (счета по учету расходов) | |
| levy['levI] | - | 1) сбор; 2) налог; 3) взимание (налогов); 4) обложение (налогами) | |
| to impose[Im'pOuz] | - | 1) облагать (налогом, податью, сбором) (on/upon); 2) налагать (обязательство); 3) навязывать; 4) обманывать | |
| secessionist[sI'seSnIst] | - | отступник, раскольник; сепаратист | |
| movement['mHvmqnt] | - | 1) движение; 2) перемещение, передвижение; 3) действия; 4) поведение; 5) деятельность (общественная); 6) течение, направление; 7) оживление (на рынке); 8) изменение в ценах | |
| corvee['kLveI] | - | 1) барщина; 2) рабский труд, тяжелая работа | |
| labor (US) (labour (UK)) ['leIbq] | - | труд, работа | |
| in kind[In kaInd] | - | натуральный (в форме товаров или услуг, а не денег) | |
| tendentious[ten'denSqs] | - | предвзятый, пристрастный, тенденциозный | |
| public finance ['pAblIk faI'nxns] | - | государственные финансы; государственный бюджет | |
| feudal['fjHdl] | - | феодальный | |
| medieval["medI'Jv(q)l] | - | средневековый | |
| sophisticated[sq'fIstIkeItId] | - | 1) лишенный простоты, изощренный; 2) усовершенствованный; 3) сложный, замысловатый | |
| to enforce[In'fLs] | - | 1) принуждать, заставлять, взыскивать, настаивать; 2) вводить в действие (закон и т.п.), приводить в исполнение | |
| realm[relm] | - | 1) королевство, царство; 2) область, сфера | |
| tax farmer[txks 'fRmq] | - | откупщик, сборщик налогов, податей | |
| to obligate['OblIgeIt] | - | обязывать, связывать обязательством (моральным, вытекающим из контракта и т. д.) | |
| to raise[tu reIz] | - | 1) поднимать (производство, цены и т.п.), повышать; 2) добывать, занимать (деньги); 3) собирать (налоги) | |
| to render[tu 'rendq] | - | 1) воздавать, платить; 2) давать; 3) оказывать (помощь, содействие); 4) представлять | |
| Caesar['sJzq] | - | Цезарь | |
| explicitly[Iks'plIsItlI] | - | 1) ясно, недвусмысленно; 2) детально, подробно | |
| self-supporting ['selfsq'pOtIN] | - | 1) самостоятельный, независимый; 2) зарабатывающий себе на жизнь; 3) на хозрасчете | |
| to do without [tu du wI'Daut] | - | обходиться без | |
| illusory[I'lHs(q)rI] | - | обманчивый, призрачный, иллюзорный, вводящий в заблуждение, мнимый, нереальный | |
| to exact[tu Ig'zxkt] | - | 1) требовать (настоятельно); 2) добиваться; 3) взыскивать | |
| income tax act ['InkAm txks xkt] | - | закон о подоходном налоге (закон, в котором устанавливается порядок исчисления и уплаты физическими лицами налога с полученного дохода, в том числе перечисляются ставки налога, возможные вычеты и льготы, сроки подачи налоговых деклараций и внесения платежей и т. п) | |
| tax code[txks kOud] | - | налоговый кодекс | |
Grammar:
Mood is a grammatical category which indicates the attitude of the speaker towards the action expressed by the verb from the point of view of its reality.
In Modern English we distinguish three moods:
(1) The Indicative Mood.
(2) The Imperative Mood.
(3) The Subjunctive Mood.
THE INDICATIVE MOOD
The Indicative Mood shows that the action or state expressed by the verb is presented as a fact.
We went home early in the evening. (Dickens)
The Indicative Mood is also used to express a real condition, i. e. a condition the realization of which is considered possible.
If it rains, I shall stay at home.
If Catherine disobeys us, we shall disinherit her. (Eliot)
THE IMPERATIVE MOOD
The Imperative Mood expresses a command or a request. In Modern English the Imperative Mood has only one form which coincides with the infinitive without the particle to; it is used in the second person (singular and plural).
Be quiet and hear what I tell you. (Eliot)
Please put the papers on the table by the bed. (Hemingway)
In forming the negative the auxiliary verb to do is always used, even with the verb to be.
Hush! Don’t make a noise! (Eliot)
Don’t be angry... (Hemingway)
The auxiliary verb to do may also be used in affirmative sentences to make the request more emphatic.
But now, do sing again to us. (Eliot)
To make a request or an order more emphatic the subject expressed by the pronoun you is sometimes used. It is characteristic of colloquial speech.
I’ll drive and you sleep awhile. (Hemingway)
N o t e. — A command addressed to the third person singular and plural is
usually expressed with the help of the verb to let.
Let the child go home at once.
Пусть ребенок сейчас же идет домой.
Let the children go home at once.
Пусть дети сейчас же идут домой.
With the first person plural the verb to let isused to express an exhortation to a joint action.
Let’s go and have some fresh coffee. (Mansfield)
Пойдемте выпьем свежего кофе.
Exercise 1.
Define what type the following attributive clauses refer to.
1) I cannot find the letter which you gave me this morning. 2) Yesterday I spoke to a man, who had just returned from an Arctic expedition. 3) The clock which is handing in the hall is slow. 4) The magazine which you lent me is very interesting. 5) This is the book that you need. 6) My father, who was a sailor, often tells me stories about the sea. 7) Yesterday I met an old friend, whom I recognized at once. 8) The garden which is at the back of the house is very small. 9) A man who has no patience cannot play chess well. 10) My son has a German teacher, who knows German perfectly. 11) The street that leads to the theatre is very wide. 12) A man who looks after the books in a library is called a librarian. 13) Is that the man whom they are looking for? 14) The building which you can see over there is very old.
Exercise 2.
Translate the following sentences:
1. The reporter spoke very loudly so that the people who were sitting in the last rows could hear him. 2. The secretary put the mail on the table so that the director would look it through. 3. I’ll give you these magazines so that you will read a few interesting articles. 4. The father gave his son some money so that he would buy two theatre tickets. 5. He sent them a telegram so that they would be informed of the arrival of the ship in time. 6. Switch on the light so that it will be lighter in the room. 7. I’ll leave you my notes so that you can read them before your examination. 8. I put the letter into my text-book so that he should not find it. 9. The children put on masks so that no one should recognize them. 10. We hung out a lantern so that they shouldn’t get lost in the mist. 11. The girl hid behind a tree so that her brother would not notice her.