Throughout history there have been many unusual taxes levied on such things as hats, Beds, Baths, marriages, and funerals. At one time England levied a tax on sunlight by collection from every household with six or more windows. And according to legend, there was a Turkish ruler who collected a tax each time he dined with one of his subjects. Why? To pay for the wear and tear on his teeth!
Different kinds of taxes help to spread the tax burden. Anyone who pays a tax is said to "bear the burden" of the tax. The burden of a tax may fall more heavily on some persons than on others. That is why the three levels of government in this country use several kinds of taxes. This spreads the burden of taxes among more people. From the standpoint of their use, the most important taxes are income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and estate, inheritance, and gift taxes. Some are used by only one level of government; others by two or even all three levels. Together these different taxes make up what is called our tax system.
Income taxes are the main source of federal revenues. The federal government gets more than three-fourths of its revenue from income taxes. As its name indicated, an income tax is a tax on earnings. Both individuals and business corporations pay a federal income tax.
The oldest tax in the United States today is the property tax. It provides most of the income for local governments. It provides at least a part of the income for all but a few states. It is not used by the federal government.
A sales tax is a tax levied on purchases. Most people living in the United States know about sales taxes since they are used in all but four states. Actually there are several kinds of sales taxes, But only three of them are important. They are general sales taxes, excise taxes, and import taxes.
Other three closely related taxes are estate, inheritance, and gift taxes. Everything a person owns, including both real and personal property, makes up his or her estate. When someone dies, ownership of his or her property or estate passes on to one or more individuals or organizations. Before the property is transferred, however, it is subject to an estate tax if its value exceeds a certain amount.

It takes only a tiny magnetic field to see clear through a person's head, a new study shows. A method called ultra-low field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has captured its first, blurry shots of a human brain, revealing activity as well as structure.
MRI scanners image the human body by detecting how hydrogen atoms respond to magnetic fields. They typically require fields of a few tesla—about 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. The powerful magnets necessary make scanners pricey and also dangerous for people with metal implants.
The new device hits a sample with a 30 millitesla magnetic field, about 100 times weaker than is normally used in MRI. The device then uses a 46 microtesla magnetic field—about the same as the Earth's magnetic field—to capture images of the sample.
The first target for the device was the head of lead researcher Vadim Zotev of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, US.
"The cost of MRI can be reduced dramatically," Zotev says. The new set-up uses several ultra-sensitive sensors called superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), which have to be kept at very low temperatures. "The most expensive part of our system is the liquid helium cryostat, which costs about $20,000," Zotev adds.
Ultra-low field MRI scanning was first performed with a single SQUID in 2004 by a group led by John Clarke at University of California, Berkeley, US, but this only allowed objects about the size of an apple to be scanned. The new device uses seven SQUIDs and can scan much larger objects.
MRI machines in the clinic today require a patient to be slotted into a long, cylindrical tube. Ultra-low field MRI machines can be much more open. "Microtesla MRI is more suitable for surgical environment than high-field MRI," Zotev says. "Some medical equipment can be conveniently placed inside [the scanner]," including surgical robots, Zotev says.
Today's MRI machines can also be problematic for people with metal implants, since intense magnetic fields can move or heat them causing damage to surrounding tissue.
Experiments show that ultra-low field MRI can image materials even when metal is placed near the magnets.
However, ultra-low field MRI hasn't been tested on animals or people with metal implants yet. "It would be wrong to claim that it is absolutely safe," Zotev says.
Since the new device also doubles as magnetoencephalography (MEG) machine, by picking up the feeble magnetic fields from electrical activity in the brain, it could perhaps let surgeons more easily identify areas of the brain with abnormal activity, such as in epilepsy.
"This is the main advantage of the new set-up," Clarke says. "It's a nice step forward./

After being designated by UNESCO the World Heritage sites, many places have become victims of their own popularity. Do you think the designation do more harm or good?

Which movie is not awarded the Oscar's best movie?
A. American Beauty B. A Beautiful Mind C. Shakespeare in Love D. Secret Window

Babies are less likely to grow up into fat children if they are fed breast milk exclusively, which provides powerful ammunition fi3r the campaign to encourage mothers to choose the breast over the bottle.
German scientists say their findings are the result of the largest study to date investigating the link between breast-feeding and obesity later in life. The findings suggest breast-feeding could turn out to be a powerful strategy for fighting the spiraling level of childhood obesity. The study, which tracked 9,357 children in Bavaria, found that the longer babies were breast-fed exclusively before being switched to formula or food, the lower their chances of starting school as overweight children.
The German study found that infants given only breast milk until they were 3 to 5 months old were more than a third less likely to be obese by the age of 5 or 6 than babies given only formula from the start. Those breast-fed exclusively for 6 months to a year fared even better -they were 43 percent less likely to be obese. Breast-feeding beyond a child's first birthday was better still, giving babies a 72 percent lower chance of turning out to be obese children.
Even just some breast milk proved to be better than none, according to the study. Children who were breast-fed for only 1:he first month or two of their lives were 10 percent less likely to be obese by the time they entered elementary school.
Besides being more likely to be obese, bottle-fed children also had a greater chance of being simply overweight by elementary school. As with obesity, the risk diminished the longer breast-feeding continued into childhood.
Children were classed as overweight if their body mass index which allows comparison of the girth of people of different heights was in the highest 10 percent of all children their age and sex in IBavaria. They were labeled obese if they were in the highest 3 percent.
The researchers took into account several factors that could have skewed the results, such as eatin.cl habits, socioeconomic class, birth weight, parents' and siblings' ages, how long the children played outside and whether they had their own bedrooms.
In fact, the fatter children were eating less butter, fewer desserts and whole-milk products, and more low-fat dairy foods -probably in an attempt to lose weight.
However, what is not clear from the study is how much of the children's weight problem was due to an inherited tendency to be fat. Experts noted that genetics might be responsible for a small percentage of the cases, but could not be the total explanation. A follow-up study which takes into account parents' weight suggests a genetic disadvantage doesn't seem to make much difference.
But is it something in the breast milk, or something associated with the act of breast-feeding that makes a difference? It's a bit early for us to draw such a conclusion.