VOA标准英语2010-Americans Rush to Pay Federal Income Tax

April 15 deadline looms¹

Adam Phillips | New York 14 April 2010

 
Americans fill out forms at an Internal Revenue Service office in 1920, seven years after the personal income tax was introduced.

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NYU Stern School of Business Professor Richard E. Sylla
Internal Revenue Service

It's late afternoon on a gorgeous spring day in New York, a time when many people might be expected to relax and smell the roses.

The taxman cometh

But not Jose Torres. He knows that Thursday is April 15, and he's worried about the deadline for filing his federal income tax return and paying the bill.

"And I'm not feeling good right now at all," he says.

Michelle has met the deadline. Still, she is also anxious about whether her tax forms were filled out correctly.

"People are always afraid of filing their taxes. Every year there are new tax laws, tax regulations. People aren't sure. So people are always afraid," says Michelle.

History of taxes

Personal income taxes were not always so complicated. In fact, there was no personal income tax at all until 1913. Before that, the federal government got its funds from customs duties, tariffs², and from excise³ taxes on alcohol and tobacco.

Professor Richard Sylla of New York University’s Stern School of Business has a doctorate⁴ in economics from Harvard, but even he finds the tax paperwork overwhelming.

Economics professor Richard Sylla of New York University's Stern School of Business says that when the U.S. Congress first established the federal income tax, only the wealthiest 10 percent or so of Americans had to pay it, and then, only at a rate of just six percent of their gross income, or less.

"The rates went up a little bit in World War I, but came down in the 1920s. Then they began to go up in the 1930s and the Depression when Franklin Roosevelt came in and thought the rich ought to pay a bigger share," says Sylla. "But the real gain in the income tax came in World War II. In the war, the rates went up to very high levels, as high as 90 percent. It was done as a sort of wartime measure, but it stayed on ever after and made the income a greater source of government revenue."

Complicated forms

According to Sylla, that is when the tax code began to get complicated.

"Some of those high rates were perceived by people who paid them and government officials as confiscatory⁵, taking too much money from people. And so then Congress began to add a lot of loop holes so nobody really paid the 90 percent. They got oil depletion⁶ allowances and all kinds of special rates for capital gains," he says.

"And congressmen, they do the bidding of their constituents⁷. And sometimes they get campaign contributions from very wealthy constituents, and so they sneak⁸ special breaks into the tax code that helps some of these wealthy constituents, and they are rewarded with campaign contributions and things like that. It's just the way our system works."

Edgard Rico runs a neighborhood tax preparation business on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in New York City.

That system has become so complicated that Sylla, who boasts a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard, often made mistakes in figuring out how much income tax he owed. Today, he relies on a computer program to help him out, while others turn to national tax preparation chains like H&R Block.

Added responsibilities

Sylla notes that the business of the federal government itself has changed radically⁹ over the past two centuries. During most of the 19th century, state and local governments were far larger than the federal government, which used about four percent of gross domestic product to provide its services.

"But in the 20th century, as the US became a superpower, fought major wars and became the main source of defending the world against the Communists — and now, sort of policing the world in a way — the U.S. government grew to be a bigger fraction of the GDP," says Sylla. "So that now the taxes take about 20 to 25 percent of the GDP, and government spending at the federal level is at 20 to 25 percent of the GDP."

Most federal tax revenue goes to pay for programs such as Medicare health insurance for seniors, road building and national defense¹⁰. It's a price many everyday New Yorkers like Jimmy are willing to pay — sort of.

"Well, I think it's a necessary thing for society. It's supposed to help with public things — sanitation¹¹, police, things that other people need. So I think it's a necessary thing," says Jimmy. "I just think it's too high. There is a lot of waste."

Where does it go?

A huge proportion of federal taxes go to pay the interest on the national debt, which according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury¹² stands today at almost $13 trillion.

Professor Sylla says the deficit¹³ itself is rooted in the contradictory¹⁴ ways Americans view government and its proper role.

"I think there is a bias¹⁵ in this system where government spending programs are popular but the taxes necessary to pay for those programs are unpopular so we don't raise our taxes enough to pay for what we want government to spend. And then we have more debt. We can't continue to have this disconnect between large spending programs and an aversion to taxes to pay for them."

Thoughts for everyday Americans to mull over this tax season, as they stand in line at the post office waiting to mail the government its annual due before the April 15 midnight deadline.

 

1 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

3 excise   

n.(国产)货物税；vt.切除，删去

参考例句：

• I'll excise the patient's burnt areas.我去切除病人烧坏的部分。
• Jordan's free trade zone free of import duty,excise tax and all other taxes.约旦的自由贸易区免收进口税、国内货物税及其它一切税收。

4 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

5 confiscatory   

没收的，充公的

参考例句：

6 depletion   

n.耗尽，枯竭

参考例句：

• Increased consumption of water has led to rapid depletion of groundwater reserves.用水量的增加导致了地下水贮备迅速枯竭。
• Farmers should rotate crops every season to prevent depletion of the soil.农夫每季应该要轮耕，以免耗尽土壤。

7 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

9 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

12 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

13 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

14 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

15 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。