Задание. Прочтите выбранный отрывок. Перескажите максимально близко к тесту и попросите вашего партнера сделать устный перевод

1. Early 1000s: Heregeld

Lady Godiva's legendary ride naked through Coventry was perhaps one of the most effective anti-tax demonstrations in history. Her tyrannical husband, Earl Leofric, had imposed an oppressive tax called the Heregeld to pay for the King’s bodyguard.

After pleading with him to repeal the tax, Leofric replied: "You will have to ride naked through Coventry before I will change my ways". So Godiva took him at his word – after ordering the town to close all their windows and doors, she rode through the town with only her long golden hair as her cover. True to his word, Godiva’s husband repealed the hated tax.

2. 1773: Colonial taxes

The Boston Tea party was not a party, but a demonstration against the unfair taxation of colonies. The British Government gave the British East India Company, an English trade company, far more beneficial tax arrangements than its colonial competitors.

Demonstrators in Boston became particularly fed-up with this, and one night a group of protestors sneaked onboard a docked British East India Company ship and unloaded 45 tons of tea (worth an estimated £10,000 - that is about £953,000 today) into the sea. The event ultimately helped spark the American Revolution and the loss of America to the British Empire.

3. 1696: Window tax

Ever wondered why some old or listed buildings have their windows bricked up? When William III reigned, a new tax was imposed on houses with more than six windows to help pay for the wars in Ireland and on the continent. Homeowners with bricked up windows would have undoubtedly suffered dark rooms and poor ventilation but many considered that preferable to paying up. The tax was not repealed for 51 years.

4. 1995: Illegal drug tax (USA)

On January 1 2005, Tennessee joined 23 other states in imposing a tax for possession of illegal drugs. People who bought drugs had 48 hours to approach the Department of Revenue and pay tax. It was levied per gram - $3.50 for marijuana, $50 for cocaine, and $200 for meth and crack cocaine.

Drug buyers did not need to provide identification to pay the tax and it was illegal for revenue employees to report them. In just 18 months, Tennessee has collected nearly $2.7 million in revenue – although it is thought this came mainly from drug users who were arrested and found not to have paid the tax.

In July 2006, a judge decided the tax was unconstitutional and it was scrapped.

5. 1988: Removal of Mortgage Interest Relief

This was partly precipitated by a blunder by the then Chancellor, Nigel Lawson. In his budget, he announced that in less than five months time, he was ending double mortgage interest tax relief, which was a major subsidy to mortgage borrowers at the time.

This led to a surge of people buying a home to take advantage of the tax relief. One year later and interest rates had almost doubled to 15 per cent, crippling homeowners and leaving many facing repossession.

6. Late 1970s: The 98 per cent tax rate

During this period there was a 60 per cent top rate income tax and then an "investment income surcharge" of a further 15 per cent. There was no incentive to increase profits because virtually everything was taxed. It led to high levels of non-compliance and lots of avoidance, and was abolished by Nigel Lawson in 1984.

7. 1689: Tax incentives for gin production

Anyone familiar with Hogarth’s engraving, Gin Lane, will understand the implications of this tax blunder. William and Mary, the protestant monarchs who ruled between 1689 and 1702, discouraged the importation of brandy from the Catholic French and instead promoted the local production of gin by abolishing taxes and licensing fees.

Unfortunately, the affordability of gin made it a favourite drink of the poor, and soon lead to mass drunkenness, vice and poverty. Government attempts to reintroduce the tax only lead to a proliferation in the making of illegal - cheap and poor quality – gin. Finally, in 1751, the Tippling Act allowed for reasonable prices, taxes and regulation of production.

8. 1700s: Scottish whiskey tax

The Scottish government applied ever increasing rates of taxation on malt and whiskey in the early eighteenth century. Distillers were driven underground, making smuggling a standard practice for 150 years. By 1777 only eight licensed distilleries were paying taxes, while 400 unregistered stills were thought to operate within Edinburgh alone. By the 1820's around 14,000 illicit stills were being confiscated every year - suggesting more than half the whisky consumed in Scotland was “illegal”. Finally, in 1823 the Excise Act was passed, which sanctioned the distilling of whisky in return for a license fee of £10. Smuggling died out almost completely over the next 100 years.

9. 1990: Poll tax

This hated tax, set by local authorities, ended up being much more expensive than first thought – and eventually up to 30 per cent of people in some areas refused to pay. This culminated in the poll tax riots – 200,000 protestors attended Trafalgar Square on March 31 1990 – and ultimately to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher. It was replaced by council tax in 1993.

10. 1783: Hat tax

Prime Minister William Pitt added an excise duty to hats in 1783, costing retailers £2 a year in London and 5 shillings in the country. Duty was collected by means of a stamped ticket fixed to the lining of the hat. A national debate ensued about what forms of headgear were classed as a "hat" – so in 1804 the statutory definitions were recast to include every description of hat by whatever name it was known, and almost every material from which it could be made. It wasn't until 1811 that the tax was repealed.

Поиск по сайту: