PRACTICING THE READING SKILL B1 LEVEL

Taxes

An old proverb says that only two things are really (1)………. - death and taxes. But when did taxes (2)…….... begin?

In the ancient world, (3)……….... was not very high. One (4)……….. for this is because people did not have very much money which they could give to the state. Also the state did not have enough (5)………... to decide fairly who should pay what taxes. Also, in those days people did not believe that the state had an automatic (6)………... to take some of their money. So people who tried to tax them were resisted. However, there were also disadvantages.

Instead of taxing its own people, the state (7)……….. taxed people from outside, such as merchants. The result was bad for trade, since in some places merchants had to pay (8)………... of taxes before they arrived at a market where they could sell their (9)………... Also, in most countries, people had to do military service as their (10)………... to the state.

1.	a) unmissable	b) final	c) inevitable	d) ultimate
2.	a) in reality	b) actually	c) in true	d) in real
3.	a) taxation	b) taxing	c) taxis	d) taxes
4.	a) reason	b) explain	c) region	d) cause
5.	a) abilities	b) capable	c) qualify	d) resources
6.	a) law	b) right	c) pretend	d) demand
7.	a) however	b) anyway	c) instead	d) otherwise
8.	a) a dozen	b) many	c) dozens	d) much
9.	a) purchases	b) selling	c) offer	d) goods
10	a) giving	b) payment	c) donation	d) doing

Answers

1.      C

2.      B

3.      A

4.      A

5.      D

6.      B

7.      C

8.      C

9.      D

10.  B