Exam 1: An Introduction to Tax

Tax policy rarely plays an important part in presidential campaigns.

Regressive tax rate structures are typically considered to be vertically equitable.

Congress would like to increase tax revenues by 20 percent. Assume that the average taxpayer in the United States earns $80,000 and pays an average tax rate of 17.5%. If the income effect is larger than the substitution effect, what average tax rate will result in a 20 percent increase in tax revenues? This is an example of what type of forecasting?

Which of the following is true regarding use taxes?

Earmarked taxes are:

Congress recently approved a new, bigger budget for the IRS. What taxation concept evaluates the cost of administering our tax law?

One benefit of a sin tax (e.g., a tax on cigarettes) is that it should increase the demand for the products being taxed.

Which of the following is a tax? I. A 1% special sales tax for funding local road construction. II) A fee paid to the state for a license to practice as an attorney. III) An income tax imposed by Philadelphia on persons working within the city limits. IV) A special property assessment for installing a new water system in the taxpayer's neighborhood.

Marc, a single taxpayer, earns $60,000 in taxable income and $5,000 in interest from an investment in city of Birmingham Bonds. Using the U.S. tax rate schedule for year 2014, what is his average tax rate (rounded)?

Ariel invests $50,000 in a city of Las Vegas bond that pays 5% interest. Alternatively, Ariel could have invested the $50,000 in a bond recently issued by Jittery Joe's, Inc. that pays 8% interest with similar non-tax characteristics as the city of Las Vegas bond (e.g., similar risk). Assume that Ariel's marginal tax rate is 25%. What is her after-tax rate of return for the city of Las Vegas bond? For the Jittery Joe's, Inc. bond? How much explicit tax does Ariel pay on the city of Las Vegas bond? How much implicit tax does she pay on the city of Las Vegas bond? How much explicit tax would she have paid on the Jittery Joe's, Inc. bond? Which bond should she choose?

The effective tax rate, in general, provides a better depiction of a taxpayer's tax burden than the average tax rate.

Marc, a single taxpayer, earns $60,000 in taxable income and $5,000 in interest from an investment in city of Birmingham Bonds. Using the U.S. tax rate schedule for year 2014, what is his effective tax rate (rounded)?

A 1% charge imposed by a local government on football tickets sold is not considered a tax if all proceeds are earmarked to fund local schools.

Marc, a single taxpayer, earns $60,000 in taxable income and $5,000 in interest from an investment in city of Birmingham Bonds. Using the U.S. tax rate schedule for year 2014, what is his current marginal tax rate?

Jonah, a single taxpayer, earns $150,000 in taxable income and $10,000 in interest from an investment in city of Denver Bonds. Using the U.S. tax rate schedule for year 2014, how much federal tax will he owe? What is his average tax rate? What is his effective tax rate? What is his current marginal tax rate? If Jonah earned an additional $40,000 of taxable income, what is his marginal tax rate on this income? (Round the tax rates to 2 decimal places, e.g., .12345 as 12.35%)

Which of the following taxes represents the largest portion of U.S. Federal Tax revenues?

Eliminating the current system of withholding income taxes directly from employee paychecks would:

How much implicit tax would Curtis pay on the city of Athens bond?

Which of the following is considered a tax?

Nick and Jessica are married taxpayers that file married filing separately. Jessica earns $250,000 of taxable income per year. Nick earns $130,000 of taxable income per year. Using the appropriate U.S. tax rate schedule for year 2014, how much tax does each of them pay? What are their marginal and average tax rates? How much tax would they save, if any, if they filed jointly? (Round the tax rates to 2 decimal places, e.g., .12345 as 12.35%)