Review article
Fundamentals of the United States of America Tax System
Nikola Mijatović
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Considering its multi-level hierarchy of tax authorities, the constitutional limits of their powers of taxation, and the number and complexity of the tax structure systems at different levels of tax authorities, the US tax system can be said to be extremely complex. In addition to the federal tax authorities, each of the fifty states has its own right of taxation, as well as lower levels of government (city, town, county etc.). All levels of government below the federal authorities were given the right to independently design and collect their own local taxes. Looking at the data on the existing types of individual taxes, as well as on the information on their fiscal yields, significant differences are observed in relation to the tax systems of European countries. The main reason for this is the fact that in the US the income of individuals is increasingly taxed as well as their assets, as the best indicators of economic power and fiscal sources of revenue, while other tax forms, including consumption taxes, have a much lower tax burden and subordinate fiscal significance in relation to European states.
Keywords
tax system; federal level; revenue tax; local level; assets tax
Hrčak ID:
128145
URI
Publication date:
15.9.2014.
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