Questões de Concurso

TEXT I

Beware the power of the blog

Companies may not like blogs, but if they ignore them
they may be inviting some PR disasters

    The number of blogs on the internet is doubling every five months, according to blog-tracking site Technorati. The total is now around 20 million, with around 1.3 million posts made each day. Most are no more interesting than overhearing another person's telephone call, but there are exceptions that can have a remarkable impact.

(from http://www.computing.co.uk/itweek/comment/ 2145491/beware-power-blog, retrieved on September 24th, 2008)

State Income-Tax Revenues Sink
By ERICA ALINI

    State income-tax revenue fell 26% in the first four months of 2009 compared to the same period last year, according to a survey of states by the nonprofit Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.
    The report, conducted by the public-policy research arm of the State University of New York, is one of the most up-todate measures of how deep the recession is digging into Americans' wallets and, consequently, state coffers.
    States are required by law to balance the budget, so lower tax revenues will translate in service cuts, rather than red ink. Already states such as Kansas are slowing the payment of income-tax refunds and delaying payments to local school districts, according to the report.
    Withholdings from the first four months of 2009 were down 6.9% from the same period in 2008, signaling that "many people had a very bad start of the year" with lower salaries and wages, says Don Boyd, a senior fellow at the Rockefeller Institute.
    During April alone, withholding tax collections declined by 2.2 percent compared with 2008. Only five of 37 reporting states had increases in withholding for the January-April months. The five states reporting growth in withholding taxes for the first four months of 2009 are Arkansas, Iowa, North Dakota, West Virginia and Utah. Arizona, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York had the largest declines in withholding tax collections, with over a 10 percent drop for January-April of 2009.
    The time span notably includes the April 15 deadline for filing taxes, a critical time for states to collect revenues.
    The sharp decline was a rude awakening for many states, both because income tax is the main source of revenue and because the drop was deeper than [VERB] It was steepest in Arizona, South Carolina, Michigan, California and Vermont. Only Utah, Alabama and North Dakota posted gains.
    For most states, the fiscal year starts on July 1, so many were "in the process of dotting i's and crossing t's" in their 2009-2010 budget agreements when the bad news came. Most states will probably need to square the budget with midyear cuts, the report predicts.
    The plunge in income-tax revenue means some states may have to revise budget agreements for 2009-2010 and may still face gaping holes in 2011, when federal stimulus money runs out.

(Adapted from Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2009)

State Income-Tax Revenues Sink
By ERICA ALINI

    State income-tax revenue fell 26% in the first four months of 2009 compared to the same period last year, according to a survey of states by the nonprofit Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.
    The report, conducted by the public-policy research arm of the State University of New York, is one of the most up-todate measures of how deep the recession is digging into Americans' wallets and, consequently, state coffers.
    States are required by law to balance the budget, so lower tax revenues will translate in service cuts, rather than red ink. Already states such as Kansas are slowing the payment of income-tax refunds and delaying payments to local school districts, according to the report.
    Withholdings from the first four months of 2009 were down 6.9% from the same period in 2008, signaling that "many people had a very bad start of the year" with lower salaries and wages, says Don Boyd, a senior fellow at the Rockefeller Institute.
    During April alone, withholding tax collections declined by 2.2 percent compared with 2008. Only five of 37 reporting states had increases in withholding for the January-April months. The five states reporting growth in withholding taxes for the first four months of 2009 are Arkansas, Iowa, North Dakota, West Virginia and Utah. Arizona, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York had the largest declines in withholding tax collections, with over a 10 percent drop for January-April of 2009.
    The time span notably includes the April 15 deadline for filing taxes, a critical time for states to collect revenues.
    The sharp decline was a rude awakening for many states, both because income tax is the main source of revenue and because the drop was deeper than [VERB] It was steepest in Arizona, South Carolina, Michigan, California and Vermont. Only Utah, Alabama and North Dakota posted gains.
    For most states, the fiscal year starts on July 1, so many were "in the process of dotting i's and crossing t's" in their 2009-2010 budget agreements when the bad news came. Most states will probably need to square the budget with midyear cuts, the report predicts.
    The plunge in income-tax revenue means some states may have to revise budget agreements for 2009-2010 and may still face gaping holes in 2011, when federal stimulus money runs out.

(Adapted from Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2009)

How to determine your income tax bracket
by Elizabeth Rosen, Contributor
January 31, 2013

In order to properly file your federal income tax return and pay any tax that you owe, it is necessary to understand your income tax bracket, your filing status, and which income tax rate(s) apply to you. There are currently six marginal income tax brackets and five federal filing statuses. The amount of tax you owe will depend on your filing status and how much taxable income you earn.
Marginal Income Tax Brackets
Your marginal income tax bracket basically represents the highest tax rate that you MODAL pay on your income. There are currently six marginal income tax brackets for each federal filing status: 10, 15, 25, 28, 33, and 35 percent.
The marginal tax bracket system is a gradual tax schedule, which essentially means the more you earn, the more tax you pay. The amount of taxable income that you earn determines which tax bracket(s) you fall into. It is important to realize that only the money you earn within a certain tax bracket is taxed at that rate. In other words, if you earned more in 2012 than you did in 2011 and thus moved into a higher tax bracket, only the money that falls within that higher tax bracket is taxed at the higher rate.
So, for example, if you move from the 25 percent tax bracket to the 28 percent tax bracket, you may make the mistake of believing that all of your income is now taxed at that higher rate. However, only the money that you earn within the 28 percent bracket is taxed at that rate.
The structure of federal income tax brackets was first implemented by the IRS in the early 1900s in an attempt to create a progressive tax system that would demand less from lower-income individuals. This system, plus a series of tax credits and tax deductions, have allowed nearly half of Americans to avoid owing federal income tax altogether [Source: The Tax Foundation].
Federal Filing Statuses
Your filing status determines your filing requirements (whether or not you are required to file a tax return and which return to file), your standard deduction amount, your eligibility for certain tax credits and tax deductions, and your income tax. There are five federal filing statuses based on marital status and other conditions: single, married filing separately, married filing jointly, head of household, and qualifying widow(er) with dependent child.
When you fill out your federal income tax return, you must specify what your filing status is on the tax form. Review each filing status carefully and choose the one that best fits your situation. If you qualify for more than one filing status, you are allowed to choose the one
that offers you the ADJECTIVE tax.

(Adapted from http://www.irs.com/articles/how-determine-your-income-tax-bracket)