Politics _ Government _ Where Does The Government Get Money

Hello, my name is Arielle Reid in Budapest, Hungary, and today, I will answer the question: Where does government get its money from? Now, most governments receive their money or their revenue from taxation. Now, taxes generally fall in the following categories. You have income tax, which is designed to be progressive, so the more money you make, the more taxes you pay. Direct withholdings, so that's when your employer takes the taxes from your gross income is the most...is the way that most governments now collect income tax. Retirement tax is used to fund social security programs. So social...any social security programs provide revenue for retired workers. You have the capital gains tax. Now, capital gains are profit made from assets being sold, and the government will levy or take a portion of the profits to put in its coffers. The corporation or corporate tax, which also includes capital gains...which can also include capital gains, is a tax that the government levies on corporations -- on their profits, on their business. So poll tax or capital gains tax is a tax that's levied per individual. The excise tax is levied not on the value of the product being produced, but on the quantity being consumed. A good example is gasoline -- the tax that governments put on gasoline consumption. Sales tax is also a form of excise tax. Property tax is levied against real estate owned. It also includes stamp duty and taxation on inherited properties or inheritances in general. Value added tax was a tax that was used when the excise tax couldn't be collected. The personal property tax is a tax paid by residents in a specific area. It includes things like boat fees or vehicle parking fees that are sometimes added into the personal property tax. And finally, we have tariffs. Now, tariffs are the taxes that are levied against things...products that are imported and products that are exports...exported. Various governments have various policies on how much taxes are and who has to pay them, but in general, all governments tax and that is how governments get the majority of their revenue.