[originaltext] Americans often say that there are only two things a person c

Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes. Americans do not have a corner on the "death" market, but many people feel that the United States leads the world with the worst taxes. Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States: federal, state, and city; therefore, there are three types of taxes. Salaried people who earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The federal government has a graduated income tax; that is, the percentage of the tax increases as a person’s income increases. With the high cost of taxes, people are not very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due.