Questões da Prova ESAF - 2005 - Receita Federal - Auditor Fiscal da Receita Federal - Área Tributária e Aduaneira - Prova 1

Your answers to questions 28 to 30 must be based on
the text below entitled "The real medicine":

The real medicine
Source: Newsweek (adapted)
Oct 17th 2005

People who survive a heart attack often
describe it as a wake-up call. But for a 61-year old
executive I met recently, it was more than that. This
man was in the midst of a divorce when he was
stricken last spring, and he had fallen out of touch
with friends and family members. The executive´s
doctor, unaware of the strife in his life, counseled him
to change his diet, start exercising and quit smoking.
He also prescribed drugs to lower cholesterol and
blood pressure. It was sound advice, but in combing
the medical literature, the patient discovered that he
needed to do more. Studies suggested that his risk of
dying within six months would be four times greater
if he remained depressed and lonely. So he joined
a support group and reordered his priorities, placing
relationships at the top of the list instead of the bottom.
His health has improved steadily since then, and so
has his outlook on life. In fact he now describes his
heart attack as the best thing that ever happened to
him. "Yes, my arteries are more open," he says. "But
even more important, I´m more open."

Your answers to questions 25 to 27 must be based on the
text below entitled "Flight of the French":

Flight of the French
Source: Newsweek (adapted)
Sept 26th/Oct 3rd 2005

The Belgians call them "fiscal refugees", but these
refugees wear Chanel. They are runaways from high
taxes in France. Officially, France has lost, on average,
one millionaire or billionaire tax payer per day for tax
reasons since 1997, when the government started trying
to track capital flight. Privately, economists say the
number is much higher. "The statistic is stupid," holds
French economist Nicolas Baverez. "It's as if, to count
contraband, you only counted what people declared at
the border."
While much of Europe has revised its tax codes, France's
fiscal inertia is virtually begging its rich to leave. Holding dear
its commitment to égalité and fraternité, France has bucked
the trend in the European Union, where most member states
have dropped the wealth tax since the mid-1990s. France
went the opposite way in 1997 by abolishing a cap that limited
the wealth-tax bill, which kicks in at incomes over 720,000
euros to 85% of a taxpayer's income. The result: some pay
more taxes than they earn in income.

Your answers to questions 21 to 24 must be based on the
text below entitled "A dip in the middle":

A dip in the middle
Source: The Economist (adapted)
Sep 8th 2005

Income tax has been paid in Britain for more
than two centuries. First introduced by William Pitt the
Younger to finance the war against Napoleonic France,
it is the Treasury´s biggest source of revenue, raising
30% of tax receipts. It arouses strong political emotions,
regarded as fair by some because it makes the rich pay a
bigger share of their income than the poor, but unfair by
others because it penalizes enterprise and hard work.
During the past 30 years, income tax has been
subject to sweeping changes, notably the cut in the top
rate from 98% to 40% under Margaret Thatcher between
1979 and 1988. Now another Conservative politician,
George Osborne, is floating a radical reform to match
that earlier exploit. The shadow chancellor announced
on September 7th that he was setting up a commission
to explore the possible introduction of a flat income tax
in Britain.
Introducing a flat income tax into Britain would
involve two main changes. At present, there are three
marginal tax rates. These three rates would be replaced
by a single rate, which would be considerably lower than
the current top rate. At the same time there would be an
increase in the tax-free personal allowance, currently
worth 4,895 pounds.