Standard deductions are characterized by the United States tax laws as the dollar amounts subtracted by non-itemizers from own income as per their tax filing statuses. With respect to federal taxes, the standard deductions are claimable by citizens of the U.S. along with aliens resident in the country. The aliens and citizens may be household heads, married persons, or single individuals. Generally, the deductions increase in each succeeding year. Very limited cadres of nonresident aliens within the US enjoy the deductions. Such cadres include F1 visa-holding Indian students in the U.S. Blind persons and those past their 65th birthday are eligible for extra standard deductions amounts. Notably, the deductions are not the same as individual, …show more content…
Consequently, taxpayers opt for the deductions that lessen the tax amounts owed as much as possible. To simplify tax computations, the law allows for standard deductions that the majority of taxpayers can opt for if they are higher than own itemized deductions (Crandall-Hollick, 2013). As well, the law allows for such deductions to lessen the challenges related to the auditing of given itemized deductions, which are executed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Standard deductions are deemed to be gross income adjustments. At times, the U.S Congress equates poverty levels to the deductions. Even then, the equating of the two has been rather inconsistent in the past (Bakija & Steuerle, 1991). This paper examines the standard deduction changes that have defined the U.S. federal income tax between 2011 and …show more content…
By and large, every research study’s purpose assists the persons undertaking it appraise its significance in the light of individual values. Ideally, the statement spelling out the purpose should include not only the study's eventual purpose but also its immediate purpose. As noted earlier, there are various widespread contestations arising from differing appreciations of the basics of standard deductions. As a general rule, each of the deductions is seen as rising each succeeding year. Even then, in some cases, the deductions reduce in succeeding years. Consequently, the present study’s purpose is to use credible, actual data in determining whether for a fact, federal income tax-related standard deductions rise every twelve months
In contrast, expenditures on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) have grown sharply from $5 billion in 1975 to $45 billion in 2005. No other federal antipoverty program has grown so rapidly. The EITC is now U.S.’s most immensely colossal cash antipoverty program. The incentives embedded in the EITC differ from those in AFDC/TANF. AFDC recipients with no earnings received the most astronomically immense welfare payments. In contrast, the EITC inspirits less-adept workers to enter the labor market, since nonearners do not receive the credit and the EITC amount elevates with earnings up to about the impecuniosity
The main concepts of the article are describing the corporate welfare system and how it is responsible for growing economic imbalances between the poor and rich populations. The article elaborated on how we cannot ignore the issue anymore because of the substantial loss that we are facing by letting the gap grow (Huff, 1993). The article also goes into the IRS and how there are tax exemptions and deductions that people qualify for and what is allowed.
One of the major problems that this act of legislation causes economically is an unequal taxation of different groups based on their income. Those who make $400,000+ are taxed a rate of 39.6% of their total income. (H.R 8, 112th Congress) This does not incorporate sales tax and property taxes that are also taken each year as well. In the book “Economics in One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt, one topic that is discussed is how taxes discourages production. In the case of The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, those who are of working class category will not see a change in their tax rates. This is great since the monetary funds that they do not pay in taxes they can either invest or use in the market. However, the taxes for those who are of upper class status have the burden. As Hazlitt
Hoffman, W., Maloney, D., Raabe, W., & Young, J. (2013). Federal Taxation Comprehensive Volume. (36 ed.). Ohio: South-W
Introduced in July 2012, H.R. 8, the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012, sponsored by Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, was approved by the House of Representatives in August 2012 and forwarded to the Senate for consideration. Opponents of H.R. 8 maintain that the plan does not provide tax cuts for all American taxpayers while supporters on both sides of the aisle argue that these changes to the Internal Revenue Code are needed to sustain the nation's economic recovery and prevent another recession. To determine the facts in the debate over H.R. 8, the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012, this paper provides a review of relevant governmental and media sources, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.
Tax time in poor neighborhood is not April but January, and this “income tax” is not what you pay but what you receive. As soon as the W-2s arrive, the working poor eager for their checks from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and immediately send the documents to the tax preparers who have flourished and gouged impoverished laborers since the welfare tie limits were enacted by the Congress in 1996. The checks that come from Washington include not only a refund of tax withheld but also an additional payment known as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) (Shipler, 2005, p.13), which is a refundable tax credit designed to redistribute incomes and supplement low-wage workers. The EITC was initiated in 1975 and then expended under President Reagan,
The tax policy in the United States is very confusing. When the tax policy was originally written in 1913 it was four hundred pages. Now, over the past ninety one years, that tax policy has evolved to over 72,000 pages. Since the tax code has become so lengthy and nearly impossible to understand, the topic of tax reform has been in the minds of many. Although, most barely think about tax reform until tax season. It is a controversial subject due to the impact a change in tax code would have on the American people. The two most popular and widely known stakeholders in this debate are the two major political parties in the United States, the Democrats and the Republicans. The two parties share absolutely no common ground on the subject of
They must meet both a monthly gross income test and a monthly net income test. The gross income is the amount of a households income, with no deductions. The net income is the gross income subtracted by the deductions. Deductions include a twenty percent earned income deduction, a deduction for dependent care costs, which includes education, a deduction for child support, a deduction for elderly and disabled people, and an excess shelter cost deduction. If the deduction is less than the average, the household has passed the income net test ("Supplemental").
One of the United States most effective tools is The Earned Income Tax Credit which encourages work and improvement of family (Center for American Progress, 2016). In the year of 2014 Earned Income Tax Credit helped more than 6.2 million Americans in the fight against poverty (Center for American Progress, 2016). A disadvantage to the Earned Income Tax Credit, is experienced in workers whose income is relatively low without qualifying children (Center for American Progress, 2016). In these instances
The current widening income inequality is due to the substantial income disparity between the top and bottom workers in the U.S. economy. General decline in wage endangered the standard of living for low income family as they struggle with a tightened budget. In order to battle income inequality, policy makers must raise the income of the working poor by expanding tax credit program and increase its effectiveness through major modification.
The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis is a critical adaptive system that maximizes survival potential in the face of physical or psychological challenge. The principal end-products of the HPA axis, glucocorticoid hormones, act on multiple organ systems, including the brain, to maintain homeostatic balance. Ryan Jankord and James P. Herman LIMBIC REGULATION OF HYPOTHALAMO-PITUITARY-ADRENOCORTICAL FUNCTION DURING ACUTE AND CHRONIC STRESS
However, this system of measuring poverty is flawed because if a family makes a dollar more above the set limit, they do not qualify for financial help from the government (NCCP, 2008).The poverty threshold is an inadequate measure of whether people are considered poor or not. Current poverty measures are flawed because it assumes how much a family spends and does not accurately include family resources such as Earned Income Tax Credit (NCCP, 2008). The way that the government measures poverty is based on outdated information that was set in the 60s. Because it has not been sufficient to keep up with the standard of living, those who are living in “high cost cities like New York and those who live in rural areas of the country” (NCCP, 2008) are barely getting by.
The United States tax system is in complete disarray. Republicans and Democrats agree that the current tax code is complex, unfair, and costly. The income tax system is so complex; the IRS publishes 480 tax forms and 280 forms to explain the 480 forms (Armey 1). The main reason the tax system is so complex is because of the special preferences such as deductions and tax credits. Complexity in the current tax system forces Americans to spend 5.4 billion hours complying with the tax code, which is more time than it takes to manufacture every car, truck and van produced in the United States (Armey 1). Time is not the only thing that is lost with the current tax system; Americans also lose
Low-income individuals and families must spend money on the same necessities required by higher-income people. The poorer taxpayers will have a limited amount of money left over to pay taxes even though its at the same rate of the individuals earning higher income amounts.
When it comes to income taxes, the focus is usually on jobs, personal investments, and savings. The debate on who should bear the greater burden when it comes to income taxes is timeless. If all types of tax are aimed at developing the economy, it should be everyone’s equal responsibility to engage in taxation regardless of one’s economic class. Both parties involved proclaim the legitimacy of their arguments. The articles under discussion are representative of this debate. On one side of the debate, there are those who feel that the rich should pay more taxes. Then there are those who feel that the rich should not be punished by shouldering the burden of taxation (Benson and White 1). From an economic theorist’s point of view, both articles articulate valid arguments. However, this does not nullify the significance of the prevailing economic situation. The above debate can be based on various economic contexts.