National Sales Tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

National Sales Tax - Essay Example Among other things, the NST is not high enough to replace current revenues. The NST should remain a fringe argument against the federal income tax. The NST would replace a number of taxes levied by the federal government. Principal among them is the income tax. The income tax sprung into being with the adoption of the 16th Amendment in 1913 (McNulty and Daniel 7). The tax taxes all income, however derived. The income that is taxed is subject to certain exemptions, deductions and credits depending on the class of person involved or the activity involved. For example, there is an additional standard deduction for the elderly and the blind (McNulty and Daniel 4). Additionally, there is a greater standard deduction for married people over single people (McNulty and Daniel 3-4). The government discerns among people and activities to encourage certain social behaviors. As McNulty and Daniel put on page 23: The income tax raises revenue, subsidizes some people or activities, encourages or discourages behavior, redistributes wealth, stimulates or stabilizes the economy, maintains federalism and tackles social problems like pollution and urban decay. The income tax is progressive - a defining feature of the system. People fall into different tax brackets based on their income. Higher income brackets are subject to higher marginal tax rates. The end result is that higher income individuals pay on average a higher proportion of their income as tax (McNulty and Daniel 18). Progressive taxation represents a federal policy of wealth distribution of money from the wealthy to services for the rest of the populace (Posin and Tobin 18). The income tax does not discourage work. People will be motivated to work so long as their federal, state and local tax rates don't exceed 100% (McNulty and Daniel 20). The federal income tax system is far reaching, pursues policy goals in addition to raising revenue and attempts to be fair among the classes. The National Sales Tax Defined The NST is a simple way to generate revenue. 45 states and the District of Columbia already take advantage of sales and use taxes. Several proposals for a national sales tax has floated in the last couple of years. This discussion reflects the national sales tax defined in H.R. 3039, sponsored by Reps. Dan Schaefer (R-Colo.) and Billy Tauzin (R-La.) (Burton and Mastromarco). The NST would replace the individual and corporate income tax, transfer taxes, and most non-trust-fund excise taxes with a single 15 percent flat-rate tax on tangible goods and services sold at the retail level (Burton and Mastromarco). The sales tax would be exempted from intermediate levels of production. The NST defined here does not replace the payroll taxes providing revenue for Social Security and Medicare. (Burton and Mastromarco). There are a slew of items that would be taxed in addition to goods and services. Housing, financial intermediation services and government goods and services that are sold to the public would be taxed. Rent and home purchases would be taxed. Imports would be taxed. (Burton and Mastromarco). The NST proposal attempts to deal with the otherwise regressive aspects of the tax. All people would receive a rebate of the tax equaling the tax rate times the poverty line, allowing poor people to avoid paying the tax and everyone else to afford the necessities of

Bipolar Disorder Assessment and Community Intervention Programs Assignment

Bipolar Disorder Assessment and Community Intervention Programs - Assignment Example In the market, as it is, there are three versions of the Beck Depression Inventory, which are basically improvements on previous versions (Parker & Ketter, 2010). The original version was first introduced for use in 1961 and is generally referred to as the BDI (Parker & Ketter, 2010). This was later in 1978 revised into the BDI-1A, which was also consequently modified into 1996’s BDI-II (Parker & Ketter, 2010). Presently, the BDI-II remains the most widely used version of the Beck Depression Inventory (Parker & Ketter, 2010). The BDI is a 21 question inventory of self-report rating which evaluates the common symptoms and attitudes associated with bipolar disorder (Rosner, 2014). The BDI is available in a number of different convenient forms such as computerized forms and card forms (Clinical Psychology, 2015). The forms require approximately 10 minutes to successfully complete (Beck Depression Inventory-II, 2015). However, the user requires a 5th to the 6th grade level of read ing competency in order that they may properly understand the questions and thus respond appropriately (Parker & Ketter, 2010). The multiple choice questionnaire, which is suited for persons who are 13 years of age and over, delves on items that determine presence/ absence of symptoms of bipolar disorder like irritability, hopelessness, feeling of being punished, guilt, fatigue, lack/ loss of interest in sex, loss of weight, and so on (Clinical Psychology, 2015).The assessment can be self-administered or done verbally by a trained administrator. The user of the instrument has the responsibility of ensuring appropriate use of the test, such as in administration, interpretation, application, and scoring of the results (Clinical Psychology, 2015). Some test instances can be given and rated/ scaled by persons with lower levels of training as long as they remain under the supervision of a qualified user (Parker & Ketter, 2010).  

Motivation and Compensation Essay Example for Free

Motivation and Compensation Essay Attrition problems occur when an organization is going through changes. Magic Graffix seems to be having problems with recruiting, training, and retaining employees. The gradual reduction of a workforce by employees leaving and not being replaced rather than by their being laid off is called attrition. Attrition can be explained after a little digging to see where the problem actually occurs. The problem of diminishing employees for Magic Graffix is happening because the employees are not motivated to complete the task at hand. HR has been assigned a budget to come up with a plan to correct the problem. A number of steps must occur to correct the attrition such as finding out why the problems exist and trying to see how to make it better gradually. Attrition starts when employees start to leave an organization. The question is when it is first noticed what can be done to correct the issue so that it does not get any worse. The Magic Graffix simulation enables suggestions that would help in escalating the problem and correcting it. Conducting an employee survey, as well as commissioning, â€Å"Who is Smiling† is the first steps to combating the problem. The employee survey will allow the organization to get a feel or sense of how the employee thinks and what he or she is feeling towards the organization. The survey will also allow for seeking any areas that need improvement as the employee see it. Commissioning, â€Å"Who is Smiling† will allow the organization to see how other employees in similar organizations feel about the industry and his or her organization. The next step was to determine the needs of the employee in each area of the organization. I have decided that employees are less concerned with his or job descriptions or the training provided; however they are concerned with benefits and compensation so this is an area that needs to be looked into closely. Our employees want to be compensated for a job well done; he or she would like to have a salary that is comparable to others in the industry. Pay is a key motivating factor for the employees, so correcting the pay scale is a good place to start. The employees are also not concerned with the recruiting techniques. In the future after correcting the pay scale and making the pay more in-line with similar organizations Magic will look into other aspects of training for upward mobility. The next task was to identify Business Delivery needs. What I have chosen should boost morale throughout the department. Game credits will allow the developer to see that he or she is valued by the organization. It will also boost self-esteem and awareness of his or her skill in the industry. Personal projects will allow the developer to showcase his or her skills. This will allow him or her to flaunt the creative mind that he or she was hired for. Telecommuting opportunities in today’s industry is crucial to the success of an organization. As a gaming developer they need to feel comfortable when working. It may be feasible to offer telecommuting to the software and developer personnel. Telecommuting will allow for personal freedom to get the task completed in a timely manner. Developers and software personnel get burnout therefore it may be nice to offer a mini sabbatical. This will allow him or her time off to get things put in order. Time to get his or head in the right place is always a necessity. If allowed the mini sabbatical the employee will come back refreshed and invigorated full of new ideas. Compensation and benefits is an instant motivator for an employee. It would be a wise decision to structure pay and incentives around the type of job that is done by the employee for the organization. Spot performances, group incentives, individual incentives, and lump sum merit awards are the choices to support compensation and incentives. Magic has people that work as a part of a team and also individually therefore the pay, rewards, and incentives should be set up around the job title. The simulation has great ideas to correct the attrition problem however there are a few ideas that should be looked into. The first idea is the recruitment techniques. Magic has done the homework and analyzed the needs of the organization as well as the employee, putting this to use is the key to success. A recruitment plan to hire the best employee would include group or series interviewing techniques because this will allow for the organization to get a feel for the candidate and the candidate a feel for the people he or she would be working with. I would also recommend testing on the software the organization is currently using, because this will allow the organization to determine the individual skill level to complete the task. Once the person is hired it would be beneficial to sit with him or her at intervals along the way to determine if the organization is meeting his or her individual needs. At each interval the person is evaluated on his or her production and also areas are pointed out that need work. The employee will also be allowed time to give feedback to the organization. Magic Graffix is currently in a position to improve the way they utilize the employees. Magic is currently faced with trying to retain its employees as they are leaving for better jobs within the industry. Magic needs to make itself more competitive in the industry. Making the organization more competitive and offering key incentives will allow Magic to recruit the best candidates for the job.

Study On A Skills And Learning Statement

Study On A Skills And Learning Statement The purpose of this statement is to summarize and reveal what I have learnt from working on this project and the skills gained from it. This statement is to conduct a self assessment of my research work and to show my strengths and weakness on my findings. The skills and learning statement is also important because it shows how RAP is prepared and it is necessary in order to achieve BSc. (Hons) graduate degree. The SLS is based on four questions: What I learned from the meetings with my Project Mentor, including the presentation that I gave to my Project Mentor. Before I made the decision to work on the research and analysis project, I made sure that I went through the other topics carefully. The main reason for my decision was because, I found that, the research and analysis project was straightforward. I learnt several things from the meetings with my mentor but the most positive of them all was that I realised I am a self-directed learner. The First Meeting Before walking into the first meeting with my project mentor, I made sure that I had with me a pen and a journal. The benefits of a journal are countless but the main reasons that I decided to keep one at hand were so I could write down any questions I may have to ask my mentor and jot down brief notes from discussions or conversations that we would have. From the very first meeting, my mentor introduced and emphasised on self-directed learning. He explained the impact it would have on my development, knowledge and skills and because of this; I decided to find out what my learning style is. Throughout all the meetings, I worked alongside other students; we discussed the importance of time and different ways in which we could use the time we had in meetings usefully. The discussions I had with my mentor were mainly based on my thoughts and ideas. He asked me how I felt about my ideas, how would I incorporate my ideas into my project and if I thought they were of a high-quality. One important issue that I learnt about was time. When I walked in for my first meeting I was a few minutes late and because of this, my mentor started working with another student. I realised from this incident that I would have to manage my ACCA studies. My mentor made clear the importance of time management and how it would affect my report if I did not allocate my time correctly. Because I was not always punctual, I lost a lot of time and a lot of my research ended up being conducted in a small space of time. Another point that my mentor constantly stressed upon throughout the meetings was critical evaluation and critical analysis. To give myself an idea about critical evaluation, I took it upon myself to read material that was critical. Once I had read the material, I read through my own report and found that it needed critical analysis aspects. I found myself modifying it on countless times and was very aggravated when I realised I hadnt referenced it accurately either. I decided to read up on some research books and began adjusting my report. The Second Meeting The second meeting consisted of discussions about my ideas and research. Throughout the meeting my mentor encouraged me talk about my ideas and this helped me make informed judgements. I believe researching information is a lot more beneficial because I felt like I was doing everything myself instead of having handouts and websites in front of me. The Third Meeting By this meeting, I had almost finished my project. I approached my mentor to organize the third meeting. In that meeting, the mentor identified my mistakes and other weaknesses in the report. I asked him how I could remove those mistakes and improve on the weaknesses. When he explained those to me, I noted down the points to ensure my projects was perfect. This helped me to improve the RAP further. The Fourth Meeting The Fourth meeting consisted of a PowerPoint presentation; I was excited about it as I had not done a presentation like that in the past. Before I started preparing the presentation, I checked up online how to use Microsoft PowerPoint and prepared a practise presentation. Overall, I feel like I learned a substantial amount of information from the meetings with my mentor. They provided me with different opportunities to discuss my ideas and thoughts and let me experience something new. The fourth and final meeting ended with my mentor asking me what I would say to prospective students about the research and analysis project. What I would say to prospective students would be that when I started this project, I wasnt very eager about independent learning but by the end of it I found myself appreciating it more and more. I value learning new things and like discussing new ideas with others and from the meetings, I feel a lot more confident and ready to take on other projects. How well I felt I answered the research question? I believe I answered the research question very well however it is important to understand that because I only had secondary data and no primary data, my analysis and evaluation was solely based on that. I do believe though that if I had access to Morrisons intranet and was able to evaluate both customer and employee opinions then my answer would have been in more depth and my data would have also been more reliable. It is important to take into account that if I did have approval to access the companies intranet, to collect primary data, that it would have taken me a lot more time, time that I could not really lose. Moreover, I believe that at the moment my skills of acquiring primary data and conducting primary research are not quite satisfactory. The main source of information that my data was based upon was Morrisons and J Sainsburys plc Annual reports of 2008, 2009 and 2010. In order for me to have answered the question in more depth, I would have needed multiple sources of data from one particular source that would have established my findings to be correct. I believe that with time I will improve my skills however it is important to remember that there will always be limitations when it comes to collecting information. In general, I believe that my answer was reasonable and that my research report was informative. How I demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills during the project work. I demonstrated my interpersonal and communication skills in many different ways during the project work. When writing my report, I made sure that it was clear and concise. I read through it to take care that it had a rational flow of arguments and that it was logical. One important point that I kept it mind was that I only included relevant facts as there was a word count that needed to be adhered to. I found this a little difficult as I had a tendency to write on about unrelated facts that didnt answer the question. When speaking in front of my mentor and fellow students I felt that no-one had any difficulties understanding me and I had no trouble understanding the feedback given by my mentor to me. One problem that I found was that, when asked about my feelings and ideas, I wouldnt express myself effectively, to resolve this issue I started writing questions in my journal so that I could ask my mentor and get the answer that I needed. By doing this, I got the answer that I needed and my ideas and thoughts were cleared as well. From the discussions with my mentor and students, I realised that it is very important to ask the right question as this helps obtain more information for both the other students and myself and helps the mentor understand that everyone understands. Another way in which I demonstrated my interpersonal and communication skills was by showing that I was listening to both my mentor and other students. I believe that by listening and giving everyone a chance to voice their opinions helps build good relationships with others. Listening is all about decoding and receiving information. Through my mentor meetings, I learnt that effective listening not only helps reduce the effect of noise distortion, but it resolve problem by encouraging understanding from someone elses view point. However I did realise that by not showing that I understood verbally may have gave my mentor the idea that I did not understand the answer he gave me, in order to prevent this I started to give him eye contact and replies rather than nodding my head. The PowerPoint presentation was the next stage, I was very excited about it however as it was my first I practised it many a times in front of friends, family and also by myself as I decided to memorise the whole presentation. I realised that this was very difficult later on as I started to forget some points, however I remembered that when I looked through the websites for help that they had recommended speaker notes for referencing. This helped a lot and I was able to give an informative presentation to my mentor. I believe that the other students had no trouble understanding me as I had no trouble understanding them. If any of the students had a problem then we were able to discuss our concerns and help each other. I demonstrated my interpersonal skills by showing respect to the other students and to my mentor. I know I can further improve my skills and by doing this it will benefit my academic studies and employment position. How has undertaking the RAP helped me in my accountancy studies and my employment role? I have found many differences in the reflective and analysis project and my ACCA studies. ACCA is formerly based on lectures and giving an exam which is based on the knowledge acquired on a particular subject. RAP on the other hand only required me to use the knowledge and skills that I had and use them accordingly. By becoming an independent learner I have realised that I can obtain information without attending lectures. As my mentor never instructed me to do anything I was forced to research and use my already acquired skills and knowledge. In my past ACCA studies I was to memorise concepts and ideas and then apply them where necessary but now that I have completed this report I am able to combine my own knowledge and skills with it. This is very important and also a very useful to skill to behold, one which I will be using in future exams. Finally, I believe that the knowledge and skills I have acquired from completing this report will not only help improve my career prospects by opening avenues which were previously outside my realm of opportunity but will also help in my personal life.

John Locke :: Empiricists, Empiricism

In Chapter five Locke says, that the earth can be used by the people for their survival, protection, or anyway in which they could benefit from it. This is where I got a little confused. So then if everything on the earth belongs to everyone then what is individual property? I read it over and over and I’m not sure if I have the right answer but I’ll try. Everyone owns there own body, and all the work they do they do with their body. When a person works with their body on something that thing becomes their own because they did the work. And he also says that there is some sort of limit that people can’t take more than they can use. He uses acorns or other fruits as an example and says, â€Å"But how far has he given it us? To enjoy. As much as any one can make use of to any advantage of life before it spoils, so much he may by his labour fix a property in: whatever is beyond this, is more than his share, and belongs to others.† (Locke 20-21) He later says that if someone has too many fruits he could trade them for money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I agree that everyone should use the earth to his or her advantage but not when it comes to endangering someone else or taking away something that someone needs more than you do. I agree that if you work with fruit trees that it is your right to eat those apples and that you should only take as many as needed. But that isn’t the case in society today. Let’s face it people are greedy and greed is something that has destroyed the world we live in. If there wasn’t any greed there wouldn’t be any murder cases or any kidnappings or robberies, etc, the list can go on and on. Another example is college acceptance. All students work for the same hope, to get accepted to a good college and hopefully gain a job that will best fulfill their needs. Say we have two identical students both scored a 1500 on their SATs and they where equally involved in their school. The only difference was that one student came from a wealthy family and the other stud ents came from a not so wealthy family. They both applied to Princeton. The outcome is that the student from the wealthy family gets enrolled as a freshman in the fall, and the other student is placed on the waiting list.

How have some Chinese companies achieved success in foreign markets? :: Business, International Companies

Over the last 30 years the world has seen drastic changes in the Chinese way of making business. Nowadays, China has opened its businesses to the rest of the world, especially America and Europe (Teagarden & Cai, 2009). As a result, their economy has increased and the evolution of the companies have changed to be from closed doors to be international and multinational (Teagarden & Cai, 2009). This essay will analyze, first of all, how some Chinese companies have had success abroad, looking at the strategy that they applied to expand and to improve their products. Furthermore, this essay will show examples of successful Chinese firms, such as Lenovo and TCL Group, and how they achieve it. According to Teagarden & Cai (2009) Chinese companies have expanded abroad for three reasons. Firstly, ‘to secure natural resources to satisfy the demand of their home costumers for raw and fuel; secondly to identify and secure foreign technology and know-how; finally, to escape home market saturation and ruthless price wars’ (Teagarden & Cai, 2009: 73). In addition, Teagarden & Cai (2009) noted that in order to become multinational firms, Chinese companies followed a pattern of four phases: Learning phase, firms started to build alliances with international respected companies, such as, possible competitors or acquisitions, absorbing the information about new technology and services, and know-how to improve their own brand. However, achieving this phase was no easy, China had its doors closed for foreign businesses for decades. They needed to train their key managers about how international companies work and manufacturing skills. Build-Up Phase, once companies absorbed knowledge they started to research and improve their own brand, and imitating the existing technology achieving innovation and chain expansion, namely, exportation of their product. Internationalization Phase, during this phase Chinese companies focused on ‘building brand, localization of products and services for new markets, and differentiation of products to support higher margins’ they did what was ‘good enough’ for the market (Teagarden & Cai, 2009:78). An important issue during this phase was to research and develop the products, and to keep the key talent of the company, such as managers and engineers. Globalization Phase, companies were known locally, regionally and internationally, their products were already improved offering innovative services. However, as The Economist (2007) has highlighted, while more global the companies are more aware of corporate social responsibility they need to be, namely, foreign stakeholders will expect, not only innovative and effective products, but also they will open their doors and invest their money to companies that are social responsible.

High School Essay Essay

I spent the first two year of high school at Westland High in Columbus Ohio. Those years were somewhat average and most of the time I felt board, even though I was on the track team. One of the more unusual things that occurred was that a classmate, who I had talked with many times and who sat by me in a few classes murdered his parents! I spent the rest if high school at Grove City High School, after moving there in my junior year. My senior year was a little less exciting (which I didn’t mind). The co-op program that I was involved with allowed me to work outside of my high school for credit. During my freshman year I was approached by a track coach. His name was Mr. Lamb. I couldn’t help but remember his name by the way a lamb sounded. Mr. Lamb had noticed while I was running for exercise that I took long strides and moved pretty fast, so he asked me if I would like to join the track team. I had never been involved in sports or asked to join a team in my life, so I jumped at the opportunity. One thing my coach liked about me was that I didn’t require a lot of practice running. I could, as the Nike commercial says, â€Å"Just do it† and I did. I won numerous first place awards place and was even interviewed by the local newspaper for having the most wins with the least amount of running time. During my sophomore year things certainly got a lot more exciting. A classmate that I had contact with and had sat next to me in class also lived a block away from my house decided to sneak up behind his mother and shoot her in the back of the head while she stood in the kitchen. Then he dragged his mother’s body to the garage and hid to wait for his dad to come home and then he put a bullet right through his father’s eye! I remember watching TV after school when the program was interrupted by a news bulletin. The newscaster had said a 17 year old student from Columbus, Ohio had murdered his parents. I was horrified to hear the name of my classmate Brad Porter when they gave details about the suspect. Returning to school the next day was a bit eerie, because there sat Brad’s empty desk right next to mine. I was shocked and scared. I remember being afraid to walk around my block and seeing Brad hiding in his garage. Things were quieter my junior year, but I did have some big adjustments to make. Because of a family situation, I was forced to move to Grove City, Ohio and live with my mother. When I transitioned to Grove City High, I had to say goodbye to all my friends, classmates and teachers and start all over again socially. This was difficult for me because I quickly get comfortable in a situation and almost think it’s never going to change. Then, when change does occur, I have to reshape my thinking to fit the new change. The move to Grove Citywas awkward at first; The students were generally better off, so more of them had cars. It seemed like everyone drove or owned a car but this didn’t bother me much – I thought to myself â€Å"Heck, I use to be on the track team! What do I need a silly car for? † The rich kids looked down on everyone that happened to be out of style with them. The school itself was bigger too, about twice the size of Westland. It had two levels but no elevators, just steps that I had to climb every morning to get to all of my classes. Finally I made it to my senior year and things were looking bright this last year of high school. Grove City offered a co-op program that allowed students to work outside of the high school and still earn credits toward graduation. I was the first to sign up. The next day I had my schedule to report to McDonalds and to work five hours every day then was done by 2pm, then that I had all the time in the world to do nothing which is the favorite thing for any teenager suffering from â€Å"senioritis†. The softer schedule and time away from school was a welcome relief from the rigorous track schedule my freshman year, and a way to start forgetting the horrible drama from the next. All in all High School hadn’t been so bad. I had done well in my freshman year on the track team. My sophomore year had some drama. My junior year brought a move and my Senior year brought relief. Almost everyone has fond memories of high school, and even though my time was probably more traumatic than most, I’m no exception. The experiences from those four years exposed me to â€Å"real life† in a very harsh way, but the coping skills I developed and the growing up that I did prepared me well to face what lie ahead, I wouldn’t change a thing.