Taxes
Very few people enjoy paying taxes, but it is a necessary thing to do for anyone who works for a living or receives money from the government. Although it's often been said that death and taxes are the only two certain things in life, moneymyths.org can help paying taxes to be a less painful experience.
There may appear to be several kinds of taxes, but most of them can be classified as either direct taxes which are paid directly to governments or indirect taxes which are paid to other intermediaries such as retail shops. In the case of indirect taxes, it is the intermediary who files the tax returns and sends them to the government. Direct taxes such as income tax, on the other hand, are usually accompanied by taxpayer's tax returns.
Most of the many things which taxes pay for belong to one of four categories, which are representation, revenue, redistribution, and re-pricing. Representation means electing politicians whose constituents may hold them accountable in exchange for their tax money, while redistribution transfers wealth from the richest citizens to those who are less well off.
Revenue is spent on roads, hospitals, schools, the military, and other necessary services which keep a society running. Re-pricing means extra taxes on things which are considered harmful to individuals or their society, such as carbon or tobacco taxes. More uses for tax money are posted on moneymyths.org.
Each nation has their own taxes, but in the United Kingdom, most government revenue is collected from income tax, fuel duty, value added tax, corporation tax, and National Insurance benefits. Visit moneymyths.org to see how these taxes compare to those collected in other countries.