Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: What is the first known example of taxes in history?
The first known system of taxation was in Ancient Egypt around 3000–2800 BC in the First Dynasty of Egypt of the Old Kingdom of Egypt.[28] The earliest and most widespread form of taxation was the corvée and tithe. The corvée was forced labour provided to the state by peasants too poor to pay other forms of taxation (labour in ancient Egyptian is a synonym for taxes).[29] Records from the time document that the Pharaoh would conduct a biennial tour of the kingdom, collecting tithes from the people. Other records are granary receipts on limestone flakes and papyrus.[30] Early taxation is also described in the Bible. In Genesis (chapter 47, verse 24 – the New International Version), it states "But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children". Joseph was telling the people of Egypt how to divide their crop, providing a portion to the Pharaoh. A share (20%) of the crop was the tax (in this case, a special rather than an ordinary tax, as it was gathered against an expected famine).[31]
In 1604, to defray the cost of flood relief, Venice introduced what could be considered the first example of a 'stamp tax'. When the revenue fell short of expectations in 1608, Venice introduced paper with the superscription 'AQ' and imprinted instructions, which was to be used for 'letters to officials'. At first, this was to be a temporary tax, but it remained in effect until the fall of the Republic in 1797. Shortly after the introduction of the tax, Spain produced similar paper for general taxation purposes, and the practice spread to other countries.
What seemed to be a straightforward limitation on the power of the legislature based on the subject of the tax proved inexact and unclear when applied to an income tax, which can be arguably viewed either as a direct or an indirect tax. The courts have generally held that direct taxes are limited to taxes on people (variously called "capitation", "poll tax" or "head tax") and property. All other taxes are commonly referred to as "indirect taxes".
Tax laws might not be accurately indexed to inflation. For example, some tax laws may ignore inflation completely. In a progressive tax system, failure to index the brackets to inflation will eventually result in effective tax increases (if inflation is sustained), as inflation in wages will increase individual income and move individuals into higher tax brackets with higher percentage rates. This phenomenon is known as "bracket creep" and can cause fiscal drag.
The US tax code treats every tax year separately. It is important to determine exactly when income should be attributed to a taxpayer because that will determine in which tax year they must report the income on their tax return. It is usually better for taxpayers to be able to say that they received income in the second of two years, rather than the first, because they will be able defer paying taxes on that amount for a longer period of time. In order to limit the ability of taxpayers to manipulate the timing of their income, courts have recognized the constructive receipt doctrine, which will attribute income received by a taxpayer to the year in which they had the ability to receive it. This case is an example of a court deciding what circumstances need to be present for constructive receipt to exist. 
The very structure of the note encourages the investor to reinvest the full face value for additional tax savings if another note is available for investment. In the U.S., this tax saving strategy is accomplished by what is known as a 1031 Exchange. The IRS allows the investor to defer payment of any taxes on the profit made on the “second hand” (in the case of the above example, that would be $10,000) indefinitely into the future if the investor “exchanges” the investment for a similar one, which, in practice, means that the investor could buy another clap note with a face value of $111,111, thus instantly saving about $3,300 in taxes and simultaneously making another $11,111 in profit on his original investment of $90,000.
During the Habsburg administration, first censuses in Bačka were conducted in 1715 and 1720. These censuses also recorded only those inhabitants that had to pay taxes to the Habsburg authorities, while those inhabitants that did not had to pay taxes (for example those that did not had their own house) were excluded from census. These censuses did not recorded ethnicity or mother tongue of the citizens.
It can be essential to determine the "situs" of an object, and the "lex situs", because there are substantial differences between the laws in different jurisdictions governing, for example: whether property has been transferred effectively; what taxes apply (such as inheritance tax, estate tax, wealth tax, income tax and capital gains tax); and whether rules of intestacy or forced heirship apply.
It could well be argued that the tax involved here [an income tax] is an "excise tax" based upon the receipt of money by the taxpayer. It certainly is not a tax on property and it certainly is not a capitation tax; therefore, it need not be apportioned. ... Congress has the power to impose taxes generally, and if the particular imposition does not run afoul of any constitutional restrictions then the tax is lawful, call it what you will.Federal and state income tax rates have varied widely since 1913. For example, in 1954, the federal income tax was based on layers of 24 income brackets at tax rates ranging from 20% to 91% (for a chart, see Internal Revenue Code of 1954).
In general, the question of how to eliminate deductions is fundamental to the flat tax design; deductions dramatically affect the effective "flatness" in the tax rate. Perhaps the single biggest necessary deduction is for business expenses. If businesses were not allowed to deduct expenses, businesses with a profit margin below the flat tax rate could never earn any money since the tax on revenues would always exceed the earnings. For example, grocery stores typically earn pennies on every dollar of revenue; they could not pay a tax rate of 25% on revenues unless their markup exceeded 25%. Thus, corporations must be able to deduct operating expenses even if individual citizens cannot. A practical dilemma now arises as to identifying what is an expense for a business.
For example, if a peanut butter producer purchases a jar manufacturer, is that an expense (since they have to purchase jars somehow) or a sheltering of their income through investment? Flat tax systems can differ greatly in how they accommodate such gray areas. For example, the "9-9-9" flat tax proposal would allow businesses to deduct purchases but not labor costs. (This effectively taxes labor-intensive industrial revenue at a higher rate.) How deductions are implemented will dramatically change the effective total tax, and thus the flatness of the tax. "Thus, a flat tax proposal is not fully defined unless the proposal includes a differentiation between deductible and non-deductible expenses."
In particular, Pigou is known for his advocacy of what are known as corrective taxes, or Pigouvian taxes:
"The History of The Lord of the Rings" reveals much of the slow, aggregative nature of Tolkien’s creativity. As Christopher Tolkien noted of the first two volumes, Tolkien had eventually brought the story up to Rivendell, but still “without any clear conception of what lay before him”. He also noted how, on the way, his father could get caught up in a “spider’s web of argumentation” - what Tom Shippey described as getting “bogged down in sometimes strikingly unnecessary webs of minor causation”. Thus (for example) the character eventually known as Peregrin (Pippin) Took was, in a series of rewriting and of deleted adventures, variously known as Odo, Frodo, Folco, Faramond, Peregrin, Hamilcar, Fredegar, and Olo – the figures also being Boffins and Bolgers, as well as Tooks.
The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 established what is known today as the Interstate Highway System and signaled the beginning of the largest public works project in U.S. history. The act also established the Federal Highway Trust Fund, marking the first time that tax income from motor vehicles and highway expenditures were linked at the national level. The intent of the legislation was to make the highway program self-financing through the imposition of user fees.
The book contains a Historical Note, in which the author sets out what is documented history (not very much) and what he made up to fill in the gaps. As an example, a usurper called Marcus existed, but nothing is known of him.
After twenty-four years, the balance increases only to $2.73. The cumulative taxes in the latter case are $1.02. The other $4.16 is not lost by the economy in any sense, as the $4.16 is what the government would make in interest, if it had invested its tax revenue in the same investment. If the initial invested amount is not taxed when earned, but the earnings are taxed thereafter, the cumulative taxes paid are the same, but are spread more evenly across the period. These results are primarily sensitive to the rate of return; for example, with a three percent return most of the tax receipts come from the tax on the initial dollar.
However, he succeeded in pushing new taxation measures through the National Assembly. In July 1919, Erzberger introduced what became known as "Erzberger finance reform." The reform pursued two goals. First, it was to give the German federal government supreme authority to tax and spend and thus end the dependence of the central government on the constituent states, as in the former German Empire. Second, Erzberger aimed for a significant redistribution of the tax burden in favour of low- to moderate income households. In July 1919, "Kriegsabgaben" (war levies) on income and wealth were introduced, as well as the first German inheritance tax. In December 1919, an additional "Reichsnotopfer" (a one-time "emergency" tax on wealth) was levied, causing outrage among the better-off. In March 1920, a federal income tax followed. Its high tax rates made Erzberger even more unpopular with many on the right.
First censuses conducted in Bačka were Ottoman tax records (defters) from 1554, 1570 and 1590. These tax records recorded only those inhabitants of Bačka that paid taxes to the Ottoman authorities, while those inhabitants that did not had to pay taxes (for example those that were in Ottoman service) were not listed in tax records.
In Boston on March 5, 1770, what began as a rock-throwing incident against a few British soldiers ended in the shooting of five men by British soldiers in what became known as the Boston Massacre. The incident caused further anger against British authority in the commonwealth over taxes and the presence of the British soldiers.
Canada was the first country to issue such stamps during this period, following passage of its Special War Revenue Act in February 1915. Its first war tax stamps, produced by modifying the dies of its King George V stamps to read "WAR TAX", were released in March 1915, in denominations of 1 and 2 cents. There are also denominations in 4 and 8 cents. One bank-note from the 1920s is known to have both the 4 and 8 cent, original style, war-tax stamps. The design was modified again in 1916, applying the inscription "1T¢" to 2 cent stamps. This indicated that the stamps carried both their face value and the tax of 1 cent, conceptually similar to a semi-postal stamp, but whose use was required rather than optional. New Zealand followed Canada's example in September 1915, becoming the second country to issue war tax stamps.
The FSI showed jurisdictions like the U.S. and Germany, despite high tax rates, are large contributors to global financial secrecy, however, this is often misinterpreted as implying that the US and Germany are "tax havens"; for example, foreign corporates do not move to the U.S. or Germany to avoid tax. The FSI does not capture modern corporate tax havens, such as Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, who maintain high levels of OECD–compliance and transparency, but are responsible for the global largest base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) tax avoidance activity. For example, Apple's Irish "leprechaun economics" tax restructure in Q1 2015, the largest BEPS transaction in history, remained unknown for years due to Irish data-protection laws. The issue is the scoring by the FSI for some of the most favoured secrecy tools of modern tax havens (or Conduit OFCs): the unlimited liability company ("ULC"), trusts, and certain SPV structures (e.g. Irish QIAIFs), none of which file public accounts in havens like Ireland and the United Kingdom. The FSI focuses on ownership of these tools (e.g. is the owner of a ULC recorded), versus visibility into the tools (e.g. is the ULC paying tax). An example of this disconnect, was the EU's €13 billion tax fine on Apple's two Irish ULCs in 2016, who while known, were found by the EU to be avoiding large amounts of Irish tax during the 2004–2014 period.
In the United Kingdom, pay as you earn (PAYE) income tax and Employees' National Insurance contributions are examples of the first kind of payroll tax, while Employers' National Insurance contributions are an example of the second kind of payroll tax.
Hypothecated taxes have a long history. One of the first examples of earmarking was ship money, the tax paid by English seaports used to finance the Royal Navy. Later, in the 20th century, the hypothecated tax began to be discussed by politicians in the United Kingdom. For example, the Vehicle Excise Duty from 1920 when earned revenues were used for the construction and maintenance of the roads, assigning 1p on the income tax directly to education in 1992, or giving £300 million per year from the revenues from taxes on the tobacco industry to help the fight against smoking-related diseases since 1999. Nowadays, earmarking of taxes is mainly connected to the health care system, education or the upkeep of the roads.
One contention by some tax protesters is that a taxpayer should be allowed to introduce, as evidence in court, copies of statutes, cases or other materials to persuade the jury about what the law is. Courts do not allow this procedure as, under the U.S. legal system, the general rule is that neither side in a civil or criminal case is allowed to try to prove to the jury what the law is. For example, in a murder case the defendant is not allowed to persuade the jury that there is no law against murder, or to try to interpret the law for the jury. Likewise, the prosecution is not allowed to do this. Instead, disagreements about what the law is are argued by both sides before the judge, who then makes a ruling. Prior to jury deliberations, the judge instructs the jury on the law. Examples of applications of this rule in tax controversies are "United States v. Ambort", "United States v. Bonneau", and "United States v. Willie".
In Arithmetica, Diophantus is the first to use symbols for unknown numbers as well as abbreviations for powers of numbers, relationships, and operations;[35] thus he used what is now known as syncopated algebra. The main difference between Diophantine syncopated algebra and modern algebraic notation is that the former lacked special symbols for operations, relations, and exponentials.[38] So, for example, what we would write as
In economics, it is frequently used to imply the remaining value after accounting for a specific, commonly understood deduction. In these cases it is contrasted with the term "gross", which refers to the pre-deduction value. For example, net income is the total income of a company after deducting its expenses—commonly known as profit—or the total income of an individual after deducting his or her income tax. Profit may be broken down further into pre-taxed or gross profit and profit after taxes or net profit. Similarly, an individual's net worth the difference between their assets (what they own) and their liabilities (what they owe to others).