Taxes Pay Money People Earn Percentage Americans Property

There is a popular joke in the United States: "Only two things are certain in life: death and taxes." Death and taxes seem to be the only things that people cannot "escape" (get away) from. Americans pay many different kinds of taxes and the "federal" (national) government uses the "tax revenues" (money received from taxes) to "finance" (pay for) federal programs.

Almost all Americans pay "income taxes," or taxes on the amount of money that they earn each year. Income taxes are "assessed" (calculated and charged) as a percentage of one's income. In general, people who earn more money pay a higher percentage of income tax than do people who earn less money. This is a "progressive" tax. If people who earn little money pay more in taxes than people who earn a lot of money, the tax is known as a "regressive tax."

In all states except Oregon, Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana, and most of Alaska, Americans pay a "sales tax," which is assessed as a percentage on all sales except for "groceries" (food that has to be prepared, not food in a restaurant). This tax is often around six or seven percent and represents a significant part of most Americans' "budget" (a plan for how one will spend money in a certain period of time).

"Property owners" (people who own land, houses, and/or buildings) have to pay "property taxes," too. The property that they own is "appraised," meaning that a professional "appraiser" examines the property and decides how much it is "worth" (how much money something can be sold for). Then the property tax is assessed as a percentage of that "appraised value."

Nobody likes paying taxes, but almost everyone does. If you don't, the "Internal Revenue Service" (IRS; the U.S. agency that collects taxes) can make your life "miserable" (very sad and uncomfortable).