| Tax is the obligatory gratuitous payment collected by the central government or local authorities from the organizations and persons for supporting the Government financially.
The tax is the obligatory, individual gratuitous payment collected from the organizations and persons in the form of alienation on the property, economic activities or the online handling of funds for financial maintenance of the government and (or) municipal authorities.
According to the Tax code, the tax is considered as established only in that case when tax payers and elements of taxation are determined, namely: the object of the taxation, tax base, the tax period, the tax rate, the procedure of calculation of the tax, the order and terms of payment of the tax. Charge is the term which is very close to the tax Payment of charge, according to law, takes place (unlike the tax) not gratuitously but is one of the conditions of commitment with respect to payers of charges by state bodies and officials of legally significant acts, including the grant of certain rights or the issue of permissions (licenses).
The tax legal relations are based on the obedience of one side towards another. They assume subordination of the sides, one of which is the tax authority working on behalf of the government - the imperious power, and another is the tax payer - the duty of obedience. The requirements of the tax body and the tax obligation of the taxpayer are not according to contract, but as per law. The legislative form of establishment of the tax, compulsion and compulsoriness of its withdrawal, the unilateral character of tax obligations are linked with the public - legal character of the tax, the state treasury and the fiscal sovereignty of the state. Due to this, disputes regarding non-fulfillment of the tax obligation is within the framework of public (in this case tax) instead of civil law.
In international practice:
Taxes represent the compulsory transfers received by a sector of the government. They do not include charges, which do not depend at all on the cost of given services and do not include obligatory deductions on social needs, penalties and surcharges. (The manual on public finances of 2001 by the International Monitory Fund)
Doctrinal definitions of the tax:
John Simond de Sismondi (1819): “Tax - the price paid by the citizen for pleasures received by him from society, the validity of justice, the assurance of personal freedom and the right of property. Daily expenses of the Government are covered by the Taxes, and in this way each tax payer participates in the general expenses made for the sake of him and for the sake of his fellow citizens”.
Bu Svensson: “Tax is the price which all of us pay for an opportunity to use public resources for certain overall aims, for example, defenses and to affect distribution of income and property between the citizens”.
Taxation in history:
For so many people up to about the 20th century, taxation in connection with the weak development of monetary relations, the monetary system took place in a natural form - a quitrent, or in the form of "labor duty”.
Some groups of the population were freed from taxation.
Tax loading / Tax burden
Actual tax loading on the economy means the share of paid obligatory payments for the benefit of the state in the gross domestic product of the country. The tax loading considerably varies for different countries. For underdeveloped countries (in which there is no powerful system of social security) there is a low tax loading, for advanced - a rather high tax loading (reaching in Sweden up to 60% of the gross domestic product in some years). The exception is for some advanced countries of Southeast Asia where the tax loading is relatively low. In Russia the tax loading makes about 42%, below the average level of advanced countries (higher than in USA, but lower than in Germany).
There is an actual and nominal tax loading. Nominal tax loading is a share of obligatory payments in the gross domestic product, which tax payers should pay in full observance of the tax laws. The difference between nominal and actual loading characterizes a degree of evasion from taxes. Evasion increases with the increase of the nominal load. If the nominal load increases above a certain level evasion becomes mass and the actual loading gets reduced. The point, at which the actual loading is at a maximum, is referred to as the Laffer point. It is considered, that nominal tax loading should be a little bit lower than the Laffer point since higher values compel taxpayers to break the tax laws. According to researchers, the Laffer point is 30-40% for advanced countries and 10-20% for developing countries.
|
Tax Day - April 15 - is almost here. The tax filing deadline used to be March 1 in 1913, until it was changed to March 15 in 1918 and then to April 15 in 1955. Today, Tax Day remains April 15, unless it falls on a weekend or national holiday - then the filing deadline is moved to the next business day.
