A tax is a charge levied by a government to raise revenue. The main types of taxes include Income tax – a percentage of income. Corporation tax – a percentage of a firm’s profit. Sales tax/VAT – an indirect tax on the sale of goods. Excise duties – taxes on alcohol, tobacco, petrol. Production taxes …
It’s been a good few decades for the top 1%, with big rises in income and wealth. But, what does it take to be in the top 1% by income, wealth, land-ownership and house values? If we look at the metric of wealth, a Swiss would need $8.5m, an American would need $5.8 million and …
In 1957, the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan proclaimed to the electorate “You’ve never had it so good”. And he had a point, full employment, a growing economy, debt falling rapidly, record house building, rising wages, universal health care and a growing sense of optimism that things would keep getting better. But, can you imagine …
Ireland can lay claim to be the third richest country in the world. In the 1970s, Ireland was one of the poorest countries in Western Europe, largely agrarian and with real incomes that lagged its neighbour across the Irish Sea. But, then over the next few decades, the Irish economy started to grow faster than …
Definition – Opportunity cost is the next best alternative foregone. If we spend that £20 on a textbook, the opportunity cost is the restaurant meal we cannot afford to pay. If you decide to spend two hours studying on a Friday night. The opportunity cost is that you cannot have those two hours for leisure. …
Definition and explanation of different types of goods Free good – no opportunity cost Private – Good with opportunity cost, rivalry and excludable Public good – non-rivalry, non-excludable Free Good A free good is a good needed by society but available with no opportunity cost. It is a good without scarcity. For example, air is …
Readers Question: The recent issue of health insurance coverage (the fact that everyone must have it or pay a penalty, and that this is causing everyone’s premiums to go up) has me wondering: why can’t the U.S. simply lower overall costs of everything, not just health insurance, but medical treatment costs, as well as all …
Readers Question: I understand why, generally, low inflation is considered to be a good thing and why high inflation is bad particularly if you have savings whose value in real terms then diminishes faster. What I do not understand is why inflation is not in fact a good thing for those of us in their …