Word: scheme
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...Paul Kirchhof, a former judge at Germany's Federal Constitutional Court, who has sparked a national debate in Germany with his call for a massive simplification of the current system that would cut the top rate to just 25% from 45% and eliminate hundreds of exemptions. If implemented, his scheme would leave Helga Moser with far more disposable income. But Kirchhof's goals are broader. "If we change the tax system, we'll strike a liberating blow for the economy," he tells TIME. In France, dozens of small taxpayer groups have sprung up around the country to contest...
...today it has just two. That's hugely appealing to tax reformers like Kirchhof in Germany, who believe that many of his nation's problems stem from a tax system that has grown too convoluted, with exemptions and loopholes that are counterproductive or even contradictory. Published last fall, his scheme would amount to a massive simplification of the tax system, eliminating all tax breaks and introducing a top 25% rate on annual income of more than €20,000, with a small number of standardized deductions. Kirchhof believes it could bring about a cultural shift as people are rewarded rather...
...cheap to begin with, but they may soon be getting a lot more expensive in France. Environment Minister Serge Lepeltier is pushing a new green-tinged plan this month that, beginning next year, would tax automobiles according to their size and the amount of their noxious emissions. Under the scheme, the biggest 4x4 would be subject to a surcharge as high as €3,500, while purchasers of small, clean cars would receive a rebate. The plan is controversial in the French government and still needs final approval. But it reflects growing official sentiment against SUVs, which account for about...
...pretty - they don't make powerful off-road vehicles, and so may actually gain market share from Toyota, VW and others if the tax scheme goes ahead. Viagra's Chinese Blues In Beijing's "adult health centers", vying with ticklers, oils and fake genitalia, knockoff Viagra pills are a bestseller that have all but replaced the traditional cure for impotence - tiger penis. The struggle by Pfizer, Viagra's creator, to sell the real thing got even tougher last week when China's patent office overturned the drug's patent there, potentially handing the market to locally made generics. The decision...
...Reagan's foreign policy successes, his final years were overshadowed by scandal. He had become committed to finding a way to free American hostages held in Lebanon. In 1985 his National Security Adviser, Robert (Bud) McFarlane, oversaw a scheme in which Israel, as a stand-in for the U.S., would provide TOW antitank missiles to an Iranian arms dealer in exchange for help in obtaining the release of hostages. Did Reagan, who had repeatedly declared he would make no deals with Iran or terrorists, agree to this one? McFarlane later testified that he did. Reagan said he couldn't remember...