What are taxes?

Taxes are some of the financial charges set by governments upon their subjects or businesses for services and infrastructure. They come in many forms: income, sales, property, and excise taxes, all of which serve different purposes. The former are normally based on the earnings, while being one of the main sources of income for the governments; the latter are charged against goods and services at the point of sale. Because of this, levies in the form of property taxes are placed on real estate, and some goods, like alcohol and gasoline, are levied with excise taxes.

Taxes levied on revenues support such activities as health, education, transportation, and social welfare. Tax systems are built to share the financial burden in accordance with the ability of the taxpayer to pay. This means that progressive taxation implies that higher income levels are levied at a higher rate, while regressive taxes—like sales tax—are likely to hit lower earners harder. Fairness, economic growth, and adequate financing of public needs or activities are major concerns and goals of any effective tax system.

How do they work?

Taxes by the government to raise its revenue to meet public expenditure and development, taxes come in several forms, such as income taxes, based on earnings and usually following a progressive rate structure, added to the selling prices of goods and services. Examples of these also include excise taxes applied on peculiar commodities such as petrol and tobacco. Individuals and companies determine what they need to pay in taxes by providing income reports, purchase records, or property assessments and subsequently filing returns or making payments. These revenues go to fund things like health, education, and infrastructure for the governments in which they are levied.

Fairness and efficiency should be prime considerations in the design of taxation systems; the former because progressive taxes should hit bigger incomes more heavily, and the latter because sales taxes can affect low-income earners more than others.