Tax Law Degree
Tax law or income tax law is a field of applied legal study where public or officially sanctioned authorities, including state, federal and local governments use a structured body of legislation and rules to calculate and collect taxes on individuals, businesses and other entities in a functional legal context. The taxation system in the United States is based upon the "taxation without representation" philosophy, under which representatives of the people are excluded from the direct collection of wealth by the state. This idea is popularly represented in the US House of Representatives and Senate with the motto "No Taxation Without Representation". See more here.
The taxation system is designed and controlled through various legislative acts and by administrative policies. Taxation is regarded as an annual event, with revenues growing and falling annually, depending upon the economy and the state of the national economy. Taxes collections include income, estate, gift and trust revenues, sales, income and corporate taxes, payroll taxes and personal income taxes. These taxes help finance vital public services such as health care, education, infrastructure, roads, parks, housing and cultural institutions.
Income and Corporate Taxes: Income taxation is based upon a tax base, which is comprised of personal and corporate incomes. Corporate taxation means the proportionate share of profits that have been transferred to the government. Personal income taxation refers to the portion of an individual's salary or wages that has been directly deducted from the individual's salary or wages for the year. The progressive income tax system in the United States basically rates tax according to ability to earn. A marginal tax rate means that the amount of taxation required for one unit of income over the total amount of income earned over the year, while a single rate would mean that the same amount of income would be taxed once, whether or not it is earned in that year. For more info, see page.
Income and Corporate Taxes: Profits and dividends paid to a company's shareholders are subject to income and corporate taxation. In addition, if the company makes purchases or loans with its paid-in capital, those costs are taxable also. Business interruption, self-employment, partnerships and foreign corporations all face different kinds of taxation. Income and corporate taxation are also connected with the tax law.
Tax Debt: If tax revenue is exceeding expenditures, the result is usually known as "tax debt". Interest and penalties may be assessed on the tax debt, which must be repaid before the authorities will make any payment. Similarly, if the Internal Revenue Service does not receive all the monies it is owed, the Internal Revenue Service has the option of either selling the unpaid taxes to a collection agency or levying the funds again through legislation. In the case of the former, the collected funds are refunded to the taxpayers; in the latter, the money is refunded to the government.
Tax law degree programs prepare students to take the exam that is conducted by the American Bar Association at the conclusion of their taxation courses. This exam is known as the AMBA Test of Tax Law. Most of the African countries that have developed their own systems of taxation require some sort of licensing before citizens can practice tax law. In most of these countries, the license is based on successful completion of an examination given by the country's tax department.
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