Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes, Americans do not have a corner on the "death" market, but many people feel that the United States leads the world with the worst taxes.

　　Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States: federal, state, and city; therefore, there are three types of taxes.

　　Salaried people who earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The percentage varies from person to person. It depends on their salaries. The federal government has a graduated income tax, that is, the percentage of the tax (14 to 70 percent) increases as a person's income increases. With the high cost of taxes, people are not very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due.

　　The second tax is for the state government: New York, California, North Dakota, or any of the other forty-seven states. Some states have an income tax similar to that of the federal government. Of course, the percentage for the state tax is lower. Other states have a sales tax, which is a percentage charged to any item which you buy in that state. For example, a person might want to buy a packet of cigarettes for twenty-five cents. If there is a sales tax of eight percent in that state, then the cost of the cigarettes is twenty-seven cents. This figure includes the sales tax. Some states use income tax in addition to sales tax to raise their revenues. The state tax laws are diverse and confusing.

　　The third tax is for the city. This tax comes in two forms: property tax (people who own a home have to pay taxes on it) and excise tax, which is charged on cars in a city. The cities use these funds for education, police and fire departments, public works and municipal buildings.

　　Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they are working one day each week just to pay their taxes. People always complain about taxes. They often protest that the government uses their tax dollars in the wrong way. They say that it spends too much on useless and impractical programs. Although Americans have different views on many issues, they tend to agree on one subject: taxes are too high.

　　【课文译文】

　　税、税、还是税

　　美国人常说，人的一生有两件事可以肯定会发生：死亡和税收。美国人并不垄断死亡市场，但许多人却感到美国以最重的赋税领先于世界。

　　税指人们为支持政府而缴纳的资金。在美国通常有三级政府：联邦政府，州政府及市政府，因此就存在三种税。

　　收入超过几千元的工薪人士必须向联邦政府缴纳一定比率的税金。这一比率因人而异，取决于各人的工资数。联邦政府实行累进收入所得税制，也就是说，税率(14%～70%)随个人收入的增加而增加，由于高额税收，人们在4月15日很不愉快，因为这一天是缴纳税款的日子。

　　第二种税是缴纳给州政府的，这些州包括纽约，加利福尼亚，北达科他以及其他47个州中的'任何一个。一些州的收入所得税的收取办法同联邦政府的相似，当然其税率要低一些。一些州设有销售税，即对你在该州所购买的任何商品所收的一定比率的税金。比如，某人想买一包25美分的烟。如果该州收取8%的销售税，那么买这包烟要花27美分，这一钱数就包括销售税。一些州利用收入所得税外加销售税的办法来提高税收，各州的税收法规五花八门，令人费解。

　　第三种税是向市政府缴纳的。这种税有两种：一种是财产税(拥有房屋的人都必须交税)，另一种是本国消费税，即对城市汽车所征收的税金。城市将这些资金用于教育、警察和消防部门、公共设施及市政建设。

　　由于美国人须付高额税金，所以他们经常感到每周有一天纯粹是在为缴税而工作。人们总是在抱怨税收太高。他们常常抗议政府滥用他们的税金。他们说政府将太多的钱花在无用且不符合实际的项目上了。尽管美国人在很多问题上有不同的看法，但他们在一个话题上的意见总是一致的：税收太高。

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