Written Assignment #2 – Tax Policies

                               Writing Assignment. No Plagiarism! 

ALL QUESTIONS ASKED NEED TO BE ANSWERED!!!

While the existence of taxes may be certain, the kinds of taxes that citizens of states will pay are not. Ever-changing economic conditions and citizen demands place continuous pressure on state leaders to develop effective tax systems, but not all states are up to the task. For this written assignment, you will compare the tax systems of two states and assess their overall effectiveness. 

To complete this paper assignment, you must do the following: 

1. Select two states. (Georgia is not a valid choice)
    
2. Identify the main components of the tax system for these two states.
    
   1. What kinds of major taxes (property, sales, corporate income, personal income) exist in the state?
       
   2. What kinds of miscellaneous taxes and/or user fees exist in the state?
       
3. Discuss perceptions of the tax system within each state. Locate and draw upon at least two
   suitable sources for each state to consider the following issues:
    
   1. Is the tax system considered to be reasonable or burdensome?
       
   2. Is the tax system considered equitable or unfair?
       
   3. Have major changes to the tax system been proposed or considered recently?
       
   4. Is the tax system considered effective for meeting the state’s revenue needs?
       
   5. What forces or factors seem to inhibit the development of more effective tax policies?
       
4. Drawing on concepts from Chapter 13, provide your own assessment of the tax systems in these states. Which of these states seems to have a ‘better’ tax system, and why?
    

Formatting and Submission Guidelines 

• Your paper should be at least 1500 words in length and double spaced with appropriate sized
  fonts and margins.
   
• Citations must be formatted based on APA, MLA, or Chicago style guidelines.
   
• Your paper must be submitted via the dropbox system in D2L. Your paper must be submitted in
  one of the following file formats: .odt, .doc, .rtf, .pdf
   
• All papers will be screened through plagiarism detection software in D2L.
   

ALL QUESTIONS ASKED NEED TO BE ANSWERED!!!

ALL QUESTIONS ASKED NEED TO BE ANSWERED!!!

ALL QUESTIONS ASKED NEED TO BE ANSWERED!!!

Suitable Sources 

News articles
Articles from non-scholarly sources (e.g. newspapers) as well as semi-scholarly sources (e.g. The Economist) should be a good source of information. Ideally, articles will contain a sufficient amount of detailed factual content, with a minimal amount of editorial content. 

Data / reports from relevant interest groups / non-governmental organizations
Many organizations research taxes in states. Such research may be very useful for you, but beware of potential biases in the organization, as non-profit does not necessarily mean non- partisan. 

State Treasury Websites
State treasury departments will likely have lots of information on their state tax laws. This will help you identify the components of the tax laws, but may not contain information on how taxes are perceived in the state. 

State Party / Candidate Platforms
Finding out what candidates are saying about taxes in the state will give you a good idea about citizen perceptions of taxes, as well as potential policy changes. 

Unsuitable Sources 

Wikipedia / other encyclopedia
These sources usually contain accurate information, but are not a suitable source. Make sure to get factual information elsewhere. 

Q&A sites (e.g. Yahoo! Answers, Google Buzz) The content of these sites should not be assumed to be accurate. 

Political Blogs
There is a great deal of variation in type and quality of blogs. Blogs that are either associated with a well-known media entity or that properly cite other suitable data sources are likely of better quality and may be considered suitable for use. Blogs from random weirdoes should be considered unsuitable.