Free Essays on Significant Experience

College is the greatest opportunity in the world. Where else would I be able to study what I want to study, rather than what I am made to study? Nothing sounds better to me than going to school everyday and learning about subjects and issues than I am realy interested in. In college I intend to major in psychology and minor in music. I have chosen psychology because I am interested in studying the human mind and why people behave and act the way they do. I am interested in working with children and adolescent at risk. I am almost certain that this will be a profession I will love and feel good about. I wish to minor in music because I love music and have a need to learn more about it. If possible, I plan to combine these two areas of study in my future career. Perhaps in the field of music therapy. The idea of being able to study exactly what I want facinates me. I am excited to know that college will give me this opportunity. I want to take advantage of my college experience to the fullest extent. During my high school years I did not participate in as many activities as I would have liked to. As I start my senior year I realize there is not much time left. I am a very shy person and this has kept me back from doing many of the things that I would like to do. I know college will offer me new ways and possibilities to get involved and become part of something. College will provide me with a chance to once and for all start to overcome my shyness. In college I will open myself to things that I really care about and try things that I did not try before. I look forward to immersing myself in new and exciting things and not taking anything for granted. I see college as a time to finally "shed my skin".... Free Essays on Significant Experience Free Essays on Significant Experience I am learning, both through observations and first-hand experiences, that there are many mishaps in life which seem to be unexplainable and unfair, and yet have devastating consequences. Disease fits into this category. Its atrocity does not stem from the fact that it is a rare or uncommon occurrence, since illness and disease pervade our lives as we hear numerous stories of sick people and come into contact with them each day. However, there is a marked difference between reading in the newspaper that a famous rock star or sports icon has tested HIV positive and discovering that your own mother has been diagnosed with cancer. Undoubtedly, the most influential people in my life have been my mother and father. It is to them that I credit many of my accomplishments and successes - both inside and outside of school. Throughout my childhood, my parents have always fostered and encouraged me in all my endeavors. At all my sporting events, spelling bees, concerts, and countless other activities, they have always been front row and center. My parents, in conjunction with twelve years of Catholic training, have also instilled in me a sound belief in a loving, caring God, which I have come to firmly believe. It therefore should not come as a surprise that the news of my mothers sickness would greatly alter my entire outlook on life. Where was my God? My mother, in fact, had been aware of her condition in the spring of my junior year in high school. She deliberately did not inform my sister or me of her illness because she did not want to distract us from our studies. Instead, my mother waited for the completion of her radiation therapy treatments. At this time, she brought me into her room, sat me down on the same wooden rocking chair from which she used to read me bedtime stories, and began to relate her story. I did not weep, I did not flinch. In fact, I hardly even moved, but from that point onward, I vow... Free Essays on Significant Experience College is the greatest opportunity in the world. Where else would I be able to study what I want to study, rather than what I am made to study? Nothing sounds better to me than going to school everyday and learning about subjects and issues than I am realy interested in. In college I intend to major in psychology and minor in music. I have chosen psychology because I am interested in studying the human mind and why people behave and act the way they do. I am interested in working with children and adolescent at risk. I am almost certain that this will be a profession I will love and feel good about. I wish to minor in music because I love music and have a need to learn more about it. If possible, I plan to combine these two areas of study in my future career. Perhaps in the field of music therapy. The idea of being able to study exactly what I want facinates me. I am excited to know that college will give me this opportunity. I want to take advantage of my college experience to the fullest extent. During my high school years I did not participate in as many activities as I would have liked to. As I start my senior year I realize there is not much time left. I am a very shy person and this has kept me back from doing many of the things that I would like to do. I know college will offer me new ways and possibilities to get involved and become part of something. College will provide me with a chance to once and for all start to overcome my shyness. In college I will open myself to things that I really care about and try things that I did not try before. I look forward to immersing myself in new and exciting things and not taking anything for granted. I see college as a time to finally "shed my skin"....

Brief History of the US Federal Income Tax

Brief History of the US Federal Income Tax Money raised through income tax is used to pay for the programs, benefits, and services provided by the US government for the benefit of the people. Essential services such as national defense, food safety inspections, and federal benefit programs including Social Security and Medicare could not exist without the money raised by the federal income tax. While the federal income tax did not become permanent until 1913, taxes, in some form, have been a part of American history since our earliest days as a nation. Evolution of Income Tax in America While taxes paid by American colonists to Great Britain were one of the main reasons for the Declaration of Independence and ultimately the Revolutionary War, Americas Founding Fathers knew that our young country would need taxes for essential items such as roads and especially defense. Providing the framework for taxation, they included procedures for the enactment of tax law legislation in the Constitution. Under Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution, all bills dealing with revenue and taxation must originate in the House of Representatives. Otherwise, they follow the same legislative process as other bills. Before the Constitution   Before final ratification of the Constitution in 1788, the federal government lacked the direct power to raise revenue. Under the Articles of Confederation, money to pay the national debt was paid by the states in proportions to their wealth and at their discretion. One of the goals of the Constitutional Convention was to ensure that the federal government had the power to levy taxes. Since Ratification of the Constitution Even after the ratification of the Constitution, most federal government revenues were generated through tariffs taxes on imported products and excise taxes taxes on the sale or use of specific products or transactions. Excise taxes were considered regressive taxes because people with lower incomes had to pay a higher percentage of their income than did people with higher incomes. The most recognized federal excise taxes still in existence today include those added to the sales of motor fuels, tobacco, and alcohol. There are also excise taxes on activities, such as gambling, tanning or the use of highways by commercial trucks.​ As true with the modern income tax, those early taxes were far from popular among the people.But with the spirit of the American Revolution and independence still running high, some of the people took their dislike of taxes to far higher level. Between 1786 and 1799, three organized rebellions- all protesting various taxes- challenged the authority of the state and federal governments to generate needed revenue. Shays Rebellion from 1786 to 1787 was raised by a group of farmers in objection to what they considered the unfair methods used by state and local tax collectors. The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 in western Pennsylvania came in protest to what President George Washingtons Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton wrongly considered an innocuous excise tax â€Å"upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same.† Finally, Fries’ Rebellion of 1799 was led by a group of Pennsylvania Dutch farmers opposed to a new federal government tax on houses, land, and slaves. While the farmers owned lots of land and houses, they were far from keen on paying taxes on slaves none of  them owned. Early Income Taxes Came and Went During the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, the government realized that tariffs and excise taxes alone could not generate enough revenue to both run the government and conduct the war against the Confederacy. In 1862, Congress established a limited income tax only on people who made more than $600 but abolished it in 1872 in favor of higher excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol. Congress re-established an income tax in 1894, only to have the Supreme Court declare it unconstitutional in 1895. 16th Amendment Forward In 1913, with the costs of  Ã‚  World War I looming, ratification of the 16th Amendment permanently established the income tax. The 16th  Amendment states: â€Å"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.† The 16th Amendment gave Congress the power to tax the incomes of all individuals and the profits of all businesses. The income tax enables the federal government to maintain the military, construct roads and bridges, enforce the laws and federal regulations, and carry out other duties and programs.   By 1918, government revenue generated from the income tax exceeded $1 billion for the first time and topped $5 billion by 1920. The introduction of the mandatory withholding tax on employee wages in 1943 increased tax revenue to almost $45 billion by 1945. In 2010, the IRS collected nearly $1.2 trillion through income tax on individuals and another $226 billion from corporations. The Role of Congress in Taxation According to the US Treasury Department, the goal of Congress in enacting tax-related legislation is to balance the need to raise revenue, the desire to be fair to taxpayers, and the desire to influence the way taxpayers save and spend their money.