Paying Taxes
Paying taxes is one of the duties of American citizens. There are many different types of taxes that you must pay. Some of those taxes include: income tax, sales tax, and property tax. Taxes also pay for services used in America such as public schools, police services, fire services, public libraries, repairing roads and bridges, maintaining some water systems and power plants, and national security and defense. However, sometimes people get angry because they don't think that their tax money is being used for the right things.
Controversy Surrounding Taxes
Across the country, people have been rallying to fight against paying the taxes that they deem unconstitutional. There is a big movement right now to replace every single tax you pay to the federal government from income tax to payroll tax with a Fair Tax. In Fair Tax, all federal income taxes will be replaced with a flat retail sales tax. This means the sales tax would be included in the price of a product or service and would be just about equal to the already-embedded tax you pay on a product or service today. Many people might be concerned about households that might not be able to afford this added tax. Under Fair Tax, no one will pay the tax on the basic necessities of life. This means that under Fair Tax every person in this country would be able to purchase each month's basic necessities: food, clothing, shelter, transportation before they pay one single cent to the government. You pay the government after you take care of your family.
Income Tax
Income tax is a tax that you pay at the end of the year that is based on your income. If you earn below a certain amount, you are exempt from paying income tax. There are both state and federal income taxes.
Sales Tax
This is arguably the only constitutional type of tax. Sales tax is what you must pay whenever you buy any item. Each state may have a different sales tax depending on that state's laws. My state, Iowa, has a sales tax of 7% so whenever we pay a dollar for any item we may buy, we pay 7% to that dollar which goes into tax money.
Property Tax
When you own land, you must pay taxes on it depending on the estimated value of the land in question. Property tax, like income tax, has also been deemed unconstitutional.
