10. What is the difference between static and dynamic effects of the different taxation systems?
1A nervous taxpayer was unhappily conversing with the IRS auditor who had come to review his records. At one point the auditor exclaimed, «We feel it is a great privilege to be allowed to live and work in the USA. As a citizen you have an obligation to pay taxes, and we expect you to eagerly pay them with a smile.»
«Thank God,» returned the taxpayer. «I thought you were going to want cash.»
2The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man around that they offered a standing $1000 bet: The bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money. Many people had tried over time but nobody could do it.
One day this scrawny little man came into the bar, wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky voice «I\'d like to try the bet.»
After the laughter had died down, the bartender said OK, grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man. The crowd\'s laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass.
As the crowd cheered, the bartender paid the $1000, and asked the little man «What do you do for a living? Are you a lumberjack, a weight-lifter, or what?»
The man replied, «I work for the IRS.»
3Psychiatrist to Internal Revenue agent on couch: «Nonsense! No way does everyone in the world hate you – everyone in the US perhaps, but certainly not everyone in the world.»
4A man, about to enter hospital, saw two white coated doctors searching through the flower beds. «Excuse me,» he said, «have you lost some – thing?»
«No,» replied one of the doctors. «We\'re doing a heart transplant for an income-tax inspector and want to find a suitable stone.»
5Tony died and was sent to be judged. He was told that he had cheated on his income taxes, and that the only way he could get into heaven would be to sleep with a stupid, butt-ugly woman for the next five years and enjoy it. Tony decided that this was a small price to pay for an eternity in heaven. So off he went with this woman, pretending to be happy.
As he was walking along, he saw his friend Carlos up ahead. Carlos was with an even uglier woman than he was with. When he approached Carlos he asked him what was going on, and Carlos replied, «I cheated on my income taxes and scammed the government out of a lot of money.» They both shook their heads in understanding and figured that as long as they have to be with these women, they might as well hang out together to help pass the time.
Now Tony, Carlos, and their two beastly women were walking along, minding their own business when Tony and Carlos saw their friend Jon up ahead, with an absolutely drop dead gorgeous supermodel. Stunned, Tony and Carlos asked Jon how is he with this unbelievable goddess, while they were stuck with these awful women. Jon replied, «I have no idea, and I\'m definitely not complaining. This has been absolutely the best time of my life. There is only one thing that I can\'t seem to understand. After everytime we have sex, she rolls over and murmurs to herself, \'Damn income taxes!\'»
Слова и выражения:auditor – аудитор
awful – ужасная
bartender – бармен
beastly – зверский
bet – ставка в споре; биться об заклад, спорить
cash – деньги, наличность
cheer – веселиться, приветствовать
citizen – гражданин
clench – стискивать
complain – жаловаться
couch – кушетка
definitely – определенно
eagerly – горячо, с жаром, с большим желанием
eternity – вечность
figure – решать, выводить (умозаключенние)
goddess – богиня
gorgeous – роскошная
grab – хватать
hate – ненавидеть
heaven – небеса
judge – судить
lumberjack – лесоруб
murmur – шептать
obligation – обязательство
patron – здесь : посетитель бара
polyester – полистерол ( искусственная ткань )
pretend – притворяться
privilege – привилегия, честь, почет
psychiatrist – психиатр
remains – остатки, останки
rind – кожа, кожура
scam – сленг обманывать
scrawny – сухопарый, костлявый
search – искать, исследовать
squeaky – писклявый
squeeze – давить, выдавливать
stuck ( от stick ) – прикованный, прилепленный
stun – ошеломлять, удивлять
supermodel – супермодель
tiny – тихий, незаметный, слабый
unbelievable – невероятный
weight-lifter – штангист
wrinkle – морщина
IRS (Internal Revenue Servise) – Налоговая служба США
standing $1000 bet – ставка в споре, равная тысяче долларов
Nonsense! – Пустяки! Ерунда! Бессмыслица!
No way! – Никогда! Никоим образом!
flower bed – клумба
cheat on – обманывать, жульничать
butt-ugly ( от butts – ягодицы и ugly – уродливый)
drop dead – сленг убийственный ( досл. : упади мертвым)
hang out – болтаться, проводить время
heart transplant – пересадка сердца
pass the time – проводить время
roll over – перекатываться, поворачиваться на другой бок
Damn! – Будьте прокляты!Exercise 5
Answer the questions:
1. What is a fine?
2. What is the difference between the short and long income tax forms?
3. What is the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion?
4. Why won\'t sharks attack tax inspectors?
5. How can people avoid taxes?
6. Why was the IRS agent strong enough to squeeze a lemon?
7. Why did the IRS agent go to the psychiatrist?
8. Why could a stone be used as a heart transplant for a tax-inspector?
9. What were the two butt-ugly women sent to hell for?
10. Was Jon a decent tax-payer?7. Банки (Banks)
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System (the Fed) has been the central bank of the United States since it was created in 1913. The main purpose of a central bank is to regulate the supply of money and credit to the economy. The board of governors, the Fed\'s principal policy-making organization, plays a key role in this process.
The board has seven members, two of whom serve as chairman and vice chairman. Each governor is appointed to a fourteen-year term, while appointments to the roles of chairman and vice chairman are for four years. The president, with confirmation by the Senate, appoints all seven governors and designates which ones should also be confirmed as chairman and vice chairman. The terms of Federal Reserve governors are long to insulate the members from political pressures and foster independent decisions.
In order to regulate the nation\'s money supply the Federal Reserve has to influence the amount of reserve funds available to banks and thus the level and direction of short-term interest rates. Whether banks and other financial institutions will make loans depends on the profit margin – the difference in the rate of interest they must pay to attract deposits or borrow funds and the interest rate they can charge customers for credit. The greater the profit margin that banks can realize on new loans, the more they will want to lend. To influence interest rates on deposits and interest rates that banks pay to borrow funds, the Fed uses its congressionally granted authority to create money. The Fed creates money in three ways.
First and most important, the Fed can purchase U.S. government securities from financial institutions by simply creating «funds» (credits) on their balance sheets in exchange for the securities. As some banks recieve extra reserves, they lend these funds to other banks overnight to earn interest. The increased supply of reserves relative to demand in the money market pushes down the overnight interest rate. This decline in the cost of credit to banks increases the profitability of new loans to businesses and individuals and provides stronger incentives for banks to expand the amount of credit to the economy.
A second monetary policy tool available to the Federal Reserve is the discount rate, the interest rate the Fed charges on loans it makes to banks. By increasing or decreasing this rate, the Fed can discourage or encourage banks to borrow the funds it creates and, therefore, make more loans to the public.
A third way in which the Fed operates monetary policy is by regulating the proportion of liquid reserves that banks must keep on hand. Obviously, the higher the reserve requirement, the less there are funds available to make new loans.
Слова и выражения:
appoint – назначать
appointment – назначение
authority – власть, право
available – доступные, имеющиеся в наличии
chairman – председатель
charge – назначать (цену)
confirm – утверждать, подтверждать
confirmation – утверждение
create – создавать
designate – обозначать, означать, назначать, указывать
discount – скидка, дисконт; делать скидку, дисконтировать
foster – способствовать, поощрять, развивать
independent – независимый
insulate – изолировать, защищать