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To help fund public works and services—and to build and maintain the infrastructure used in a country—a government usually taxes its individual and corporate residents. The tax collected is used for the betterment of the economy and all who are living in it. In the United States and many other countries in the world, income taxes are applied to some form of money received by a taxpayer dues from IRS. The money could be income earned from salary, capital gains from investment appreciation, dividends or interest received as additional income, payment made for goods and services, etc.
Tax revenues are used for public services and the operation of the government, as well as for Social Security and Medicare.1 As baby boomer populations have aged, Social Security and Medicare have claimed increasingly high proportions of the total federal expenditure of tax revenue.2 Throughout U.S. history, tax policy has been a consistent source of political debate.
A tax requires a percentage of the taxpayer’s earnings or money to be taken and remitted to the government. Payment of taxes at rates levied by the government is compulsory, and tax evasion—the deliberate failure to pay one’s full tax liabilities—is punishable by law. (On the other hand, tax avoidance—actions taken to lessen your tax liability and maximize after-tax income—is perfectly legal.)3 Most governments use an agency or department to collect taxes. In the United States, this function
