April 15th is a tax(税) day for Americans. It is the last day to pay federal(联邦的) income taxes for the year before. Most taxpayers have enough income taxes collected all year long through their employers. So they do not owe much. In fact, most get some money back.

Income tax rates increase as income increases. People who earned more than three hundred nineteen thousand dollars last year had the highest rate, thirty-five percent. But there are different ways for people to reduce their income taxes.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to build federal taxes. State and local governments can also tax. But the idea of national taxes took time.

In 1790 Congress passed a tax on whiskey and other alcoholic drinks. Farmers in western Pennsylvania who produced alcohol refused to pay. They attacked officials and burned the home of a tax collector.

George Washington, America’s first president, gathered the army. The soldiers put down the so-called Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. It was one of the first times that the government used its power to make sure a federal law within a state.

At first, the United States government collected most of its money through tariffs(关税), which are taxes on foreign trade. Then, in the late 1800s, Congress began to tax the money that people earned through their jobs.

The Supreme Court was against the personal income tax as unconstitutional. So the States changed the Constitution. In 1930 they passed the Sixteenth Amendment(修正案). It gives Congress the power to collect taxes on personal incomes.

In 2004, personal income tax provided the government with thirty-seven percent of its money, and income tax on business provided six percent.

【小题1】Which of the following taxes is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．Taxes on business.	B．Taxes on incomes.
C．Taxes on alcohol making.	D．Taxes on house selling.

【小题2】Why did the US decide to change the Constitution according to the passage?

A．Because the Supreme Court asked them to do so.

B．Because they wanted to collect the personal income tax.

C．Because they wanted to limit the power of the Supreme Court.

D．Because they wanted to increase foreign trade tax rates.

【小题3】Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Both the state and local governments in America have the right to tax.

B．Before 1800, most American government’s tax money came from taxes on alcoholic drinks.

C．Personal income tax has become an important tax in the States.

D．If you haven’t paid federal income taxes for 2008 before April 15, you may break tax laws.

【小题4】What does the underlined sentence “But the idea of national taxes took time" in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．It took a long time to realize the idea of national taxes.

B．Every year it takes a long time to collect national taxes.

C．The states were not sure whether they should collect national taxes.

D．For a long time people didn’t know what national taxes were.