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In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Două lucruri sunt inevitabile în viaţă: moartea şi impozitele.

Another difference between death and taxes is that death is

frequently painless. - AnonymousO altă diferenţa între moarte si impozite este că moartea este cel mai adesea mai puţin

dureroasă.

Death and taxes and childbirth. There's never any

convenient time for any of them. Margaret Mitchell (1900 - 1949 )

Moartea impozitele şi naşterea. Niciodată nu este un moment potrivit pentru nici una

dintre ele

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Etymology Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Origin: 1250-1300; (verb) Middle English taxen < Medieval Latin taxāre to tax, appraise, Latin: to appraise,

handle, frequentative of tangere to touch; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the verb

from Latin taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle," also "censure, charge," probably a

frequentative form of tangere "to touch" (see tangent).

c.1300, "impose a tax on," from Old French taxer "impose a tax" (13c.),

early 14c., "obligatory contribution levied by a sovereign or government,

Sense of "burden, put a strain on" first recorded 1670s; that of "censure, reprove" is from

1560s. Its use in Luke ii for Greek apographein "to enter on a list, enroll" is due to Tyndale.

Related: Taxed; taxing.

• Dictionary.com, "tax," in Dictionary.com Unabridged. Source location: Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tax. Available:

http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: October 29, 2014.

• 1. a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific

facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.

• 2. a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand.

• verb (used with object) 3. A) to demand a tax from a person, business, etc.. B) to demand a tax in

consideration of the possession or occurrence of (income, goods, sales, etc.), usually in proportion

to the value of money involved. • 4. to lay a burden on; make serious demands on: to tax one's resources.

• 5. to take to task; censure; reprove; accuse: to tax one with laziness.

• 6. Informal. to charge: What did he tax you for that?

• 7. Archaic. to estimate or determine the amount or value of.

• verb (used without object) 8. to levy taxes.

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British Dictionary definitions for tax (Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co.

• 1. a compulsory financial contribution imposed by a government to raise revenue,

levied on the income or property of persons or organizations, on the production costs or sales

prices of goods and services, etc

• 2. a heavy demand on something; strain: a tax on our resources

• verb (transitive) 3. to levy a tax on (persons, companies, etc, or their incomes, etc)

• 4. to make heavy demands on; strain: to tax one's intellect

• 5. to accuse, charge, or blame: he was taxed with the crime

• 6. to determine (the amount legally chargeable or allowable to a party to a legal action), as by examining the solicitor's bill of

costs: to tax costs

• 7. (slang) to steal

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/taxation.html

• taxation :A means by which governments finance their expenditure by

imposing charges on citizens and corporate entities.

http://www.investorwords.com/4879/tax.html

A fee charged ("levied") by a government on a product, income, or activity.

One of the most important uses of taxes is to finance public goods and services, such as

street lighting and street cleaning. Since public goods and services do not allow a non-

payer to be excluded, or allow exclusion by a consumer, there cannot be a market in the

good or service, and so they need to be provided by the government or a quasi-

government agency, which tend to finance themselves largely through taxes

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TAX. AN ASPECT OF FISCAL POLICY From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A tax (from the Latin taxo; "rate") is a financial charge or other levy imposed upon a

taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a state or the functional equivalent of a state

such that failure to pay, or evasion of or resistance to collection, is punishable by law.

Taxes are also imposed by many administrative divisions.

Money provided by taxation has been used by states and their functional equivalents throughout

history to carry out many functions. Some of these include expenditures on war, the enforcement

of law and public order, protection of property, economic infrastructure, public works, social

engineering, subsidies, and the operation of government itself. Governments also use taxes to fund

welfare and public services. (education systems, health care systems, pensions, unemployment

benefits, and public transportation). Energy, water and waste management systems are also

common public utilities.

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Governments use different kinds of taxes and vary the tax rates. This is done to

distribute the tax burden among individuals or classes of the population involved in

taxable activities, such as business, or to redistribute resources between individuals or

classes in the population. Historically, the nobility were supported by taxes on the poor;

modern social security systems are intended to support the poor, the disabled, or the

retired by taxes on those who are still working. In addition, taxes are applied to fund

foreign aid and military ventures, to influence the macroeconomic performance of the

economy (the government's strategy for doing this is called its fiscal policy; see also tax

exemption), or to modify patterns of consumption or employment within an economy,

by making some classes of transaction more or less attractive.

A nation's tax system is often a reflection of its communal values and/or the values of

those in power. To create a system of taxation, a nation must make choices regarding

the distribution of the tax burden—who will pay taxes and how much they will pay—

and how the taxes collected will be spent. In democratic nations where the public elects

those in charge of establishing the tax system, these choices reflect the type of

community that the public wishes to create. In countries where the public does not have

a significant amount of influence over the system of taxation, that system may be more

of a reflection on the values of those in power.

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• http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/T/Tax.aspx

Tax Legal Definition: A payment to a public authority, required by statute, for a

public purpose.

• John Bouvier defined a tax as: "A pecuniary burden imposed for the support of the

government. The enforced proportional contribution of persons and property levied by the

authority of the state for the support of the government and for all public needs."

• In Lower Mainland, the Privy Council, Justice Thankerton for the Court, wrote that taxes: "...

are compulsorily imposed by a statutory (authority)..."They are enforceable by law... (and)

compulsion is an essential feature of taxation."

• In Australia, Justice Dwyer wrote, in Leake: "A compulsory contribution, or an impost, may

be nonetheless a tax, though not so called. "The distinguishing feature of a tax ... is that it is a

compulsory contribution imposed by a sovereign authority on, and required from, the general

body of subjects or citizens, as distinguished from isolated levies on individuals."

• In Canada, an oft-cited definition is that of Justice Duff of the Supreme Court in Lawson:

"That they are taxes, I have no doubt. In the first place they are enforceable by law .... Then

they are imposed under the authority of the legislature. They are imposed by a public body....

The levy is also made for a public purpose.”

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• http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/T/Tax.aspx

• In Ontario Private Campground, Justice Howden wrote: "A tax is defined as an impost or

levy by the legislature or other public body for a public purpose, enforced by law. "At

common law, the terms fee and charge do not exclude a tax and have been used

interchangeably; therefore it was held in British Columbia that a fee imposed by provincial

statute on operators of mobile home parks ... was considered to be a tax on land. Similar fees

or taxes on mobile home parks have been upheld as land taxes."

• But in Westbank, at , Justice Gonthier of the Canadian Supreme Court distinguished a tax

from a user-fee: "The impugned charges bear all of the traditional hallmarks of a tax. They

are enforceable by law, imposed pursuant to the authority of Parliament, levied by a public

body, and are imposed for a public purpose. There is no nexus between the revenues raised

and the cost of any services provided. As such, they do not resemble a user fee, nor any other

form of a regulatory charge."

• In civil procedure, tax is also used a a verb and refers to the process of challenging a general

bill of a lawyer and subjecting it to the detailed review of a court. The process is referred to as

taxation.

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•SUMMARIZE:

•a sum of money / a compulsory financial contribution / A pecuniary burden / financial

charge or other levy

• imposed by a state or the functional equivalent of a state / an impost or levy by the

legislature or other public bodies / Taxes are also imposed by many administrative

divisions. / levied by the authority of the state / by a statutory (authority)..." / demanded

by a government??

•Imposed / are compulsorily imposed / compulsion is an essential feature of taxation." /

They are enforceable by law / imposed pursuant to the authority of Parliament, / failure to

pay, or evasion of or resistance to collection, is punishable by law.

•for a public purpose/ for the support of the government and for all public needs.

•imposed upon a taxpayer

There is no nexus between the revenues raised and the cost of

any services provided.

Taxes do not resemble a user fee, nor any other form of a

regulatory charge.

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•SUMMARIZE: Taxes do not resemble a user fee, nor any other form of a regulatory charge.

FEE a fixed charge / a sum paid or charged for a service / an amount of money that must be paid / an amount that is

paid for a work done.

BURDEN : something that is carried : LOAD b : DUTY, RESPONSIBILITY 2 : something oppressive or

worrisome

CHARGE: a: EXPENSE, COST; the price demanded for something / to impose a financial burden / to impose or

record as financial obligation / to fix or ask as fee or payment / to ask payment of a person.

LEVY noun: an amount of money that must be paid and that is collected by a government or other authority 1a: the

imposition or collection of an assessment; b: an amount levied; LEVY verb: to use legal authority to demand and

collect (a fine, a tax, etc.); 1a: to impose or collect by legal authority <levy a tax> b: to require by authority

CONTRIBUTION noun 1: a payment (as a levy or tax) imposed by military, civil, or ecclesiastical authorities

usually for a special or extraordinary purpose 2 : the act of contributing; Examples of CONTRIBUTION The money

was raised by voluntary contribution.

TARIFF OR CUSTOMS DUTY noun: a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country; a list of prices charged by

a hotel or restaurant for meals, rooms, etc., or by a public company for gas, electricity, etc. The words tariff, duty,

and customs are generally used interchangeably.

PAYMENT noun: the act of giving money for something; the act of paying ; something that is given to someone in

exchange for something else; an amount of money that is paid for something

IMPOSE verb: to cause (something, such as a tax, fine, rule, or punishment) to affect someone or something by

using your authority / : to force someone to accept (something or yourself); Full Definition of IMPOSE transitive

verb 1a: to establish or apply by authority b: to establish or bring about as if by force. Origin of IMPOSE from

Latin imponere, literally, to put upon (perfect indicative imposui), from in- + ponere to put — more at POSITION

Synonyms assess, charge, exact, fine, lay, levy, put

impost noun : something imposed or levied : TAX

PRICE noun: 1 archaic: VALUE, WORTH 2a: the quantity of one thing that is exchanged or demanded in barter

or sale for another; b: the amount of money given or set as consideration for the sale of a specified thing; Synonyms:

charge, cost, fee, figure, freight, price tag (Concise Encyclopedia) Amount of money that has to be paid to acquire a

given good, service, or resource.

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DEFINITION

Tax is a type of compulsory financial levy

(money), impost by the legislature or other

public body for a public purpose, enforced by

law, without directly providing a service in

exchange, immediately cashable and non-

reimbursable. Such funds represent a part of

income or wealth of individuals and/or

business entities and they are collected in

order to cover public needs.

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This definition indicates that taxation has the following features:

• it represents a compulsory financial levy undertaken on behalf of

the state’s sovereignty (impost by the legislature or other public

body), based on legal grounds (enforceable by law) ;

• taxation doesn’t involve a direct (and immediate) service

provided by the government. This is one fundamental distinction

between taxes and fees, whereas the fees are collected for the

provision of a direct service; There is no nexus between the

revenues raised and the cost of any services provided

• taxation revenues are non-reimbursable and consequently none of

the taxpayers can ask for a direct payment from the government

based on paid taxes. This is one distinction between taxes and

public debt that bears interest and should be reimbursed (paid

off).

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In addition to the above mentioned features, modern taxation

papers also indicate other elements and characteristics, firstly

related to the quality of fiscal lever that taxes tend to have

nowadays.Governments use taxation to encourage or discourage certain economic decisions. For example, reduction in taxable

personal (or household) income by the amount paid as interest on home mortgage loans results in greater

construction activity, and generates more jobs. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/taxation.html

“…taxes and tax reliefs have also been used as a tool for behavioural change, to influence investment decisions,

labour supply, consumption patterns, and positive and negative economic spill-overs (externalities), and ultimately,

the promotion of economic growth and development. The tax system and its administration also play an important

role in state-building and governance, as a principle form of ‘social contract’ between the state and citizens who can,

as taxpayers, exert accountability on the state as a consequence.” Hazel Granger, Economics Topic Guide: Taxation and Revenue, pag 9,

https://partnerplatform.org/?c158bbx3, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax

This new quality of being a real economic lever is often linked to

the “harmonization of public interests with individual ones”.

I believe this issue should be regarded as a “compromise”

between social and individual or group interests, whereas

harmony is an ideal, while reality is almost always a

compromise.

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Quite frequently taxation is regarded as a punishment, as a fine. There is

not always a clear and obvious distinction between them. This is

emphasized by the fact that always the beneficiary is the state.

That is why it is worth mentioning the following:

A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing

something right. – Anonymous / O amendă este un impozit pentru că ai

făcut ceva rău. Un impozit este o amendă pentru că ai făcut ceva bun.

A citizen can hardly distinguish between a tax and a fine, except that the

fine is generally much lighter. - G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) / Un cetăţean

poate greu diferenţia un impozit de o amendă, cu excepţia faptului că, în

general, amenda este mai “uşoară”

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An intermezzo of economic thinking...

There is no nexus between the revenues raised and the cost of any services provided

TAX IS A PAYMENT NON ACCOMPANIED BY A SERVICE PROVIDED

DIRECTLY AND IMMEDIATELY

TAXPAYER STATE

TAX Payment

???PUBLIC SERVICES

Tax is NOT a FREE payment...

Or is it an “awkward” gratuity?

Another approach...

Why do we pay taxes? Why do we benefit from public services?

Taxes and public services ARE FREE …

THERE IS NO connection between the status of taxpayer and the

one of beneficiary (or the other way around)

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The establishment and collection of taxes by the state generate

a significant redistribution of the gross domestic product. In

this manner, the role of taxation is displayed from the

financial, economic and social perspective. Such role is

different from country to country.

• It can be claimed that, according to the classical approach on

economics, taxation has a pure financial purpose, as its role

is to collect necessary resources to cover the public spending.

• From this point of view, taxation should be economically and

socially neutral.

• „ …taxation shouldn’t have a stimulating nature nor a

moralistic or protective nature, but it should exclusively

represent a source of financing for the treasury”.

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• Taxation is, in fact, the most difficult function of government

and that against which their citizens are most apt to be

refractory. - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) / Impozitarea este,

la urma urmei, cea mai dificilă funcţie a guvernului şi este aceea

împotriva căreia sunt cele mai mari şanse ca cetăţenii să se

“revolte”; cel de-al 3-lea preşedinte al SUA

• The power of taxing the people and their property is essential to

the very existence of government. - John Marshall / Puterea de-a

impozita oamenii şi proprietatea lor este esenţială pentru

existenţa guvernului

• The core purpose of taxation is revenue mobilization, providing

resources for National Budgets

Hazel Granger, Economics Topic Guide: Taxation and Revenue https://partnerplatform.org/?c158bbx3

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In most countries of the world, the most important role of taxes continues to be

displayed at the financial level, due to the fact that most of financial resources

collected by the state in order to cover public needs are generated from tax revenues.

Whenever taxation comes into question, one problem is obsessively repeated:

whether taxes are a type of payment acceptable from the point of view of the

taxpayer or not. At this point, the following ideas should be restated:

Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an

organized society. - Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) / Impozitele sunt, la urma

urmei, datorate pentru a plăti privilegiile de a fi membri unei societăţi organizate; cel

de-al 32-lea preşedinte al SUA

I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization. - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841 –

1935) / Îmi place să plătesc impozite. Cu ele cumpăr civilizaţie.

I like to pay taxes. It makes me feel less guilty. – Anonymous / Îmi “place” să-mi

plătesc impozitele. Mă face să mă simt mai puţin vinovat.

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On the other hand, tax justification is a matter intimately related to

their use and the “good-faith” of the government. A certain tax and

its corresponding rate are considered as justified when they have

been “properly” used, in accordance with the interests of the citizens.

• When a government is just, taxes are few. - Thomas Paine (1737-

1809) / Când statul este just, impozitele sunt puţine.

• Why are the people starving? Because the rulers eat up the money in

taxes. - Lao Tzu / De ce oamenii mor de foame? Deoarece “regii “

cheltuie banii proveniţi din impozite

• Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized

robbery. - Calvin Coolidge (1923-29) / A încasa mai mult impozite

decât este absolut strict necesar este furt legalizat

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Given the complex environment of market economy and directly related to the

attempts of modern governments to use taxation as a tool for intervention in the

economy, in the contemporary financial practice can be distinguished a certain

emphasis of the taxation role from the economic point of view. In this broad

setup, taxes are used as levers of economic policy – through the effective manner in

which they are established and levied.

• Thus, taxes act like tools for stimulating or restricting the economic activities,

the consumption of certain commodities and/or services.

• At the same time, taxes can stimulate or restrict commercial relations with

external partners in general or with partners coming from certain countries.

Taxes are applied to .. to influence the macroeconomic performance of the economy

.., or to modify patterns of consumption or employment within an economy, by

making some classes of transaction more or less attractive. Hazel Granger, Economics Topic Guide:

Taxation and Revenue, pag 9, https://partnerplatform.org/?c158bbx3, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax

It is worth mentioning here the famous quotation according to which “taxation

ceased to be the grain of sand disturbing the market mechanism, and has become

one of the regulators and engines of this mechanism. Consequently, taxation is

meant to provide funds to the state budget and also to represent a factor of

equilibrium in the economy” / Gabriel Ardant, “Histoire de l’impôt”

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• From the social point of view, the role of taxation consist in their use

as a tool for redistributing an important part of the gross domestic

product.

This is done to distribute the tax burden among individuals or classes of

the population involved in taxable activities, such as business, or to

redistribute resources between individuals or classes in the population

• Such redistribution appears during the process of collection of direct

and indirect taxes to the budget and involves the redistribution of

budgetary resources, their use (also) in accordance with social criteria.

• This process has a more or less significant influence on the economic

behavior of different categories of taxpayers.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend

upon the support of Paul - George Bernard Shaw / Un guvern

care fură de la Peter pentru a-l plăti pe Paul, poate

întotdeauna sa se bazeze pe sprijinul lui Paul;

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The major outcome of the role of taxation in the economic and

social area is represented, ultimately, by the increase of

overall fiscal pressure (tax-to-GDP ratio) in most countries

with a real market economy.

• Taxes grow without rain. - Old Jewish Proverb / Impozitele

cresc fără ploaie – vechi proverb evreiesc

• Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American

now pays out almost as much in taxes alone as he formerly

got in wages. Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) /

Indiscutabil este un progres. Americanul mediu plăteşte

acum pentru impozite aproape jumătate din ceea ce obţine

ca şi salariu

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Such increase of taxation is the result of the following characteristics

related to the development of taxation in the contemporary period:

• a more accelerated increase of state revenues from taxation compared

with the increase of gross domestic product (tax to GDP ratio increase)

• the absolute and relative increase of taxation revenues following the

increase of: the number of taxpayers, the taxable subjects, as well as the

increase of certain taxation rates;

• the increasing trend of average income per inhabitant was overrun by

the increasing rhythm of taxation.

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Even if a “generalized” increase of taxes can be noticed, it

shouldn’t be forgotten that this phenomenon is accompanied

by major risks; a “general” increase might only be one step

away from an excessive one and in some cases this step

might be a really small one.

• Liberty produces excessive taxes; the effect of excessive

taxes is slavery. - Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de la

Brede et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

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10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

TAXE REVENUE %GDP TOP INCREASE 2012-1965

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-2,00

0,00

2,00

4,00

6,00

8,00

10,00

TAXE REVENUE %GDP TOP INCREASE 2012-1965

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