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Economics of Tax

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Submitted By tonya25
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“Tax is a compulsory levy made by the public administration for which nothing is received directly in return’’ (James and Nobes, 2011). The income tax was primarily developed in England by Pitt the Younger in 1798 to help out finance the Napoleonic Wars.’’ In earlier times, taxes were usually only levied occasionally to pay for some huge expenses such a war. Since then the British tax system has developed in a largely ad hoc and politically expedient method’’. Amendments have been made to the existing tax systems, usually when the government required more funds. Little if any planned or integrated thinking seems to have taken place. According to the Adam Smith Institute, Great Britain has the most complex tax system in the world, which is largely believed that is roughly five times as long as the German tax code (Geraint Jones, 2011)
Currently, governments request to use taxation in some situations for purposes which is different than raising funds to cover up its expenditure. To begin with, the economic resources, which are accessible for the nation are limited, thus a raise in government spending usually leads to a decrease in private expenditure. In addition to this, one technique of transferring recourses from the private to the public sector is the use of taxation, but there are also further methods.
One of these alternative methods is the degradation of the currency through the creation of additional money, but the main problem of this method is that it leads to inflation. Moreover, an additional alternative option is for the government to charge the goods and services it offers. However, it is not possible to charge individuals directly on the basis of their utilization of many government services (James and Nobes, 2011). According to Musgrave (1959), the economic function of government may be separated into three major categories. First, is to overcome

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