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 is that state, when 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. They 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 words and municipal buildings.

    Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they are wording 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 way 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.
     
    美国人常说凡是一个人一生中有两件事是肯定的：一是必有一死，一是必须纳税。虽然美国人并没有垄断了世界"死亡殡葬业"的市场，但是美国确以最苛重的赋税在世界上独占鳌头。

    税就是人民为了支持政府工作所交纳的钱。在美国大体上有三级政府：联邦政府、州政府和市政府。因此，征税也有三种。

    凡是年薪收在两三千美元以上的人，必须按年薪的一定百分比向联邦政府纳税。这百分比的多少，人与人是不同的。这取决于年薪大小。联邦政府征收累进所得税，也就是说，随着个人收的增长，征税的百分比率（百分之十到百分之七十）也在增长。由于征税数额高，在联邦政府收税日，即在四月十五日，那人们心情都不愉快。

    第二级征税的机构是州政府：纽约州，加里福尼亚州，北达科他州或另外的四十七个州。有些州征收所得税，这跟联邦政府征的所得税类似。还有些州征收销售税，这按你在该州所购买的任何一件物品的价格的一定的百分比率来征收。例如，某人想买25美分一包的纸烟，如果该州的销售税征收率是物价的百分之八，那么这包纸烟的实价就是27美分，这个数字里面就包括了销售税。有些州除了征收所得税，还要加征销售税，以提高州政府的每年的收入。各州的销售税法显然是很不相同的，也很混乱。

    第三级征税的机构是市政府。市政府征收的有两种税：财产税（凡拥有房产的人必须交纳财产税）和消费税（这是对市内行驰的小汽车征的税）。这些税收资金用于教育、警察、消防等部门及公共设施和市政建设。

    由于美国人都要交纳数额很高的各种税款，所以他们都常常认为每周必须有一天资是为了纳税去工作。人们老是抱怨这些税收。他们经常抗议说，政府对他们交纳的税金使用不当。虽然美国人民在许多问题上持不同观点，但是在这个话题上却倾向一致：赋税太重了。