The Role of Government and

Taxation

David Cameron on the role of the government (Ted Talk)

a) Three periods in history according to D. Cameron?

b) Reason for each period? c) According to D. Cameron, the role of the

government today is to give people … ?

An opinionWatch David Cameron’s talk (14 min.) on

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/david_cameron.html

Listen carefully and take detailed notes on D. Cameron’s talk.

What does the British Prime Minister say about the role of government today and before?

What makes him a good presenter?

Explain the meaning of the sentences below:

An essential part of economic freedom is freedom to choose how to use our income ...

Currently, more than 40% of our income is disposed of on our behalf by government at federal, state and local levels combined.

Milton and Rose FriedmanMK: p.110

TAXATION

A few basic questions

Who pays tax?Who collects tax and why?Do all taxpayers pay the same amount of tax? What is flat in flat tax? What is redistributed in redistributive taxation?Is it true that evading tax is much more

dangerous than avoiding it?What happens in Croatia in February?

February in Croatia ...

Use the following words:

• Taxpayers• Declare tax• Income tax, local surtax • File a tax return• Tax authorities (Tax Administration)

Verbs Nouns?

• collect tax• evade tax• avoid tax• declare tax

Verbs Nouns

• collect tax tax collection• declare tax tax declaration• evade tax tax evasion• avoid tax tax avoidance

Types of tax

Croatia• value-added tax (VAT)• personal income tax (PIT)• corporate income tax (CIT), corporate tax, profit tax • excise taxes (excise duties)• inheritance and gift tax• social security contributions• surtax, local surcharges ...MacKenzie (MK) - p.112

Additional reading: http://www.ijf.hr/eng/taxguide/2010.pdf

Work on Text (1)Dodger Mania (Source: The New Yorker, July, 2011)

Business English wordsgovernment debt budget deficit loopholedefault shadow economy backlogausterity plan tax revenue exemptionbailout regressive tax compliantpublic spending law enforcement underreporttax evasion tax compliance tax ratecentral bank fraud taxpayers

Source: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2011/07/11/110711ta_talk_surowiecki

Work on Text (2)Dodger Mania, The New Yorker, July, 2011

I Which paragraphs fall within the headings below?

1.The problem pg./pgs. __2.Reasons for the problem pg./pgs. __3.Implications pg./pgs. __4.New attempts pg./pgs. __5.Not an easy task pg./pgs. __

II Make one sentence about each part of the text (1-5).

Source: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2011/07/11/110711ta_talk_surowiecki

Taxation: pros and cons

• What would J.K. Galbraith say? (RB: p. 36)

• What would M. Friedman say? (MK: p.110)

• What does Warren Buffet say? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi6BQLM4aqo&feature=related

• What do others say? ( MK: p.113)