Is it high time to introduce a Pigouvian tax on fast food chains as well?
See:Alan Lewis's answer to Should high fat, low nutrition fast food be taxed like cigarettes and alcohol?"Should high fat, low nutrition fast food be taxed like cigs and booze? YES, if we want to (further) punish poor people, and exacerbate racial inequalities and class stratification. All such schemes are highly regressive -- actually massively regressive, much more than any other taxation scheme. It is punitive, and the punished are the poor: it has a significant impact on people with 10K/year income; zero impact on people with 100K/year income." ...SNIP... continues at the link...
Could Trump introduce a tax for crossing the Mexican border in order to let the Mexicans pay for the wall?
No the President cannot. Taxes are initiated by Congress not the President. We had experience with the arbitrary nature of a king and neutered the Executives ability to do such things on their own. In fact even when we revolted the King of England didn’t have that kind of power.The power of the purse for legislatures dates back hundreds of years before the revolution in Britain. It was Parliaments one firm power which all other powers radiated from. If the King wanted to raise taxes he had to call Parliament into session to approve it and Parliament could put any demands they wanted in negotiating it. That’s how Britain went from a monarchy to a democracy; slow erosion of monarchal powers in exchange for money for whatever the crisis was for the monarchy.Others of course have pointed out that even if such a thing were passed by Congress Mexico could retaliate with a fee of their own. “So what”, says someone who lives nowhere near Mexico and never plans to go. Well, Mexico isn’t stupid enough to retaliate against their direct customers on the border. Like China they’d craft retaliatory measures against economic interests in the states and districts of the people supporting the measure. So the midwestern rural congressman gets some tariffs against his local pig farmers. Senator from Kentucky gets whisky and bourbon tariffs, etc.Mexico is not a small country. It has either the 11th or 15th largest economy in the world based on which measurement you use; dollars adjusted for local costs or just dollars respectively. Since they don’t have a big military and aren’t as wealthy on an individual basis as we are we tend to think of them as a much smaller country than they are. Like all people though they do have pride and the behavior and rhetoric being used against them makes it an easy decision for them to rebuff any effort to actually do real work on this issue.
Why did the Government of India introduce subsidy for fuel and then tax the consumers at the same time?
Subsidies for Kerosine and Diesel used i=by farmers and fishermen and domestic cooking gas for those families income less than Rs 10 Lakhs/PA. Person having cooking gas connection not eligible for subsidised kerosine.
UAE and Saudi Arabia will introduce VAT in 2018. How tax experts from around the world can help local SMEs? Is it possible to understand this tax system having no experience in the Middle East market (system is akin to the European system)?
The introduction of a Value Added Tax (VAT) regime in the UAE marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the UAE economy where the general public will start sharing the burden of budgetary expenditure, starting today (January 1, 2018).While VAT is applied at a uniform rate of 5 per cent on taxable supplies, a number of goods and services are either zero rated or in exempt category in the UAE, reducing the overall inflationary impact. However, it is true that VAT will reduce the purchasing power of UAE residents in proportion to tax payed on consumption.The fact that the UAE is new to taxation, the VAT implementation has come with its fair share of apprehensions in the minds to all stakeholders. VAT is one of the most common types of consumption tax that has been implemented in more than 150 countries around the world.VAT is charged at each step of the 'supply chain'. Final consumers generally bear the VAT cost while businesses collect and account for the tax, in a way acting as a tax collector on behalf of the government.Finding out whether a supply is liable to VAT can be pretty complicated although not straight away difficult. Productivity for any company is the priority which goes hand in hand with time-work efficiency.An updated accounting software can go a long way in easing your accounting work and helping your accounting team get it done on time.– They save time.– They ease your efforts– They help you carry out your accounting work with greater efficiency.ProfitBooks is one such accounting software that is up to date with every type of accounting information and helps you create accurate reports on time.If you think your accounting team is slogging of extra time during festivities and end of quarters and yet your accounts are still showing minor errors, you need ProfitBooks for an accurate report generation.
Do you think the Indonesian government should introduce a tax on cigarettes to discourage smoking?
There is already some sort of tax but still small. Last time the govt wanted to raise it so a box would be around 50K IDR but it was rejected by the tobacco associations citing that they would have a massive layoffs should it implemented.It is difficult for govt to proceed with this because many people work in cigarette factories. To reduce cost, surely there would be layoffs.Damn if you do damn if you don’t situation.
What would happen if we didnt have tax?
Taxes are peoples and entities contribution to society to pay for all the things society demands. If you didn't have taxes then you would have to pay for the road every time that you used it. You would have to pay for the hospital and doctor if you got sick. Your parents would have had no choice in paying for your education. It would be have been an education and pay for it,educate yourself if you are able or don't educate. There would be no law and order. If there is then if you commit a crime you would pay all the costs. As most people are unable to do that we as a society would have to find another solution. Such as the death penalty for all crimes, such as speeding or jay walking. Extreme I know but a decision would have to be made. There would be no government as the only people that would have the time and money to do any law making would be the rich. They would do things which would make them richer. Then you would have revolution. Local property taxes pay for your water, sewage and rubbish collection. You might depending on where you live pay for the water to be delivered and sewage to be taken away. That payment only meets the operational and maintenance costs. Not the cost to construct the system in the first place. We as a society have decide that we will pay taxes as our contribution to the costs of running society. Because we all contribute the individual costs are lower. While at this time I am contributing for others children to go to school other people did the same when my children went. I could not on my own afford to educate my children. Government many times provides services that are essential (water) and that business is not prepared to take the risk and provide (health services and education). Another way for society to operate is to rely on the benevolence of the rich.(kings, queens, lords and ladies) Most of whom got rich because of immoral and criminal behaviour. This is unfair for them and for society. It is better for everyone to contribute at levels they can afford. A percentage of income. Our tax system comes unstuck when society demands more from it than what it can afford. We do this by electing politicians who promise things. We need to remember that we are the ones in control.
How does the government use taxes to influence consumers' decisions?
A Govt gets all it's revenue in tax payments so whatever it spends to do anything,it is spending tax money. To influence consumers the Australian Govt is using millions of tax dollars to put on an advertising campaign to introduce another tax, namely this carbon rubbish they are going to hit us with. Diabolical that we pay our tax so the taxers can advertise yet another tax. It's quite taxing you know !!!