Reading Bank 7

This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B. Part A: What is the main idea in paragraph 6 of Passage 1?

• Businesses had to start paying taxes in the 1900s.

• Every President tries to lower the tax rate to please voters.

• The federal government uses tax money in a variety of ways.

• The income tax and business tax rates have changed over time.

Part B: How do the details in paragraph 6 support its main idea?

• They identify examples of changes made to tax rates over time.

• They describe details of the process used for changing the tax rates.

• They explain why changes to tax rates were made only certain years.

• They show why rate changes were fair to some people and not to others.

Select one sentence from Passage 1 that tells why income taxes still exist today.

• Income taxes became permanent in 1913 because of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution.

• The office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue was also started in 1862.

• It collected the taxes for the government.

• It had the power to take away people’s property if they didn’t pay their taxes.

• Nowadays, an agency known as the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, does these things.

Read this sentence from Passage 1. "Before 1800, the United States government only levied taxes on certain goods, such as carriages and sugar." (paragraph 2) What does the word levied mean as it is used in the sentence?

• eliminated

• increased

• charged

• opposed

According to Passage 1, why did the United States start collecting sales tax and income tax?

• Americans were making higher wages than before.

• The government needed money to pay for two wars.

• The nation was expanding at an increasingly fast rate.

• The government had no money because it had not collected taxes before.

What can you infer from paragraph 3 of Passage 2 about the people of France and Denmark?

• They don’t care about the amount of income taxes they must pay.

• They want to increase the amount of money they spend on their military.

• They are willing to pay a higher income tax rate because of the services they get.

• They would like to increase the amount of money they spend on education and health care.

Why does the author of Passage 2 compare what the United States spends on its military to what Denmark and France spend on their militaries?

• to support the main idea that countries have very different tax rates

• to support the main idea that the United States has a great deal of money

• to support the main idea that the United States should reduce its military spending

• to support the main idea that countries make different choices about how to use tax money

Based on the table in Passage 2, what can you conclude about South Korea?

• South Korea would have to raise tax rates to spend more on its military.

• South Korea would have to raise tax rates to spend more on its military.

• South Korea spends more on its military and less on social protection than other countries.

• South Korea has a high tax rate and spends much more on its military than on social protection.

Read this sentence from Passage 2. “Each country must decide how to divide its pie.” (paragraph 5) What is the meaning of this sentence?

• Each country has to choose the tax rates for individuals and for businesses.

• Each country has to choose what to spend more on and what to spend less on.

• Each country has to choose how much money to collect from its citizens in taxes.

• Each country has to choose how its spending compares with that of other countries.

What information does the reader know after reading both Passages 1 and 2?

• why different countries made the decision to collect income taxes

• the history of income taxes across the globe and how they compare

• how people from different countries feel about income taxes and rate changes

• how income taxes began in the United States and how U.S. tax money is spent