Most taxpayers have had enough income tax collected by their employers during the year. So they do not (36) any money. In fact, most Americans get some money back. Last year, the Internal Revenue Service returned at least some money to more than (37) Americans paying individual income tax.
The United States has what is called (38) . Tax rates increase as (39) increase. This year, people earning more than (40) are taxed at the highest rate.
Earnings above that amount are taxed at (41) . Earnings below that amount are taxed at lower rates.
Individuals who earn less than (42) pay no income tax. But they do pay (43) , Medicare and other taxes.
There are many different ways for people and businesses to reduce their (44) Most homeowners, for example, can reduce their taxes a little by reporting to the I.R.S. the interest they pay (45) . This is called a (46)
In 2004, personal income taxes provided the government with most of its money: (47) of the budget. Social security and other (48) taxes provided (49) . Other forms of income include (50) , money borrowed to (51) and special taxes on (52) .
But income from taxes did not provide enough to pay for government spending. The I.R.S. says the budget deficit for 2004 was about (53) dollars.
Preparing tax documents can be complex. The I.R.S. estimates that taxpayers need an average of about 13 hours to prepare tax documents. And that is just for the basic tax form. For business, the I.R.S. estimates an (54) needs more than 50 hours. This is why a lot of Americans pay (55) to complete their tax documents for them.
参考答案：professional tax preparers
解析：[解题思路] 听懂并把握好篇章的大意是准确填空的前提。本文的大意是： 纳税人每年都要向国家纳税。但美国人也从他们所交的税当中得到了一些返还部分。去年，美国国税局就给至少1亿交纳个人所得税的美国人返还了一些钱。 美国采用的是累进税制，税率随收入的增加而增加。去年，收入在326000美元的人们交纳的税率最高。收入高于326000美元的人们交纳的税率为35％。人均收入在7 300美元以下的不需要交纳个人所得税，但他们还得交社会保障、医疗保险等税收。 有许多方法可以减少联邦所得税，如买房的人可以告诉美国国税局他们的住房贷款税率以减少一些税。 2004年个人所得税成为政府财政收入的主要来源，占35％，社保和其他离退休税占 32％。但个人所得税的收入仍然不够政府的支出。美国国税局称2004年的财政赤字约为4000亿美元。 准备税收文件的手续很复杂。据美国国税局称，纳税人平均需要约13个小时的时间准备税收文件，对商行来说，平均需要15个小时。[典型试题解析] 如第38题的空是一个名词短语结构，要注意中心词与修饰词的关系，因为有两个修饰词，关键是要记住progressive，a progressive tax system，意思是“累进税制”，速记技巧：a progressi tax sys。 如第53题考查的是数字听力。对于数字的听力，一般是直接记下。比方说four hundred thousand million可以记成400 000 m，m是million的缩写。同样billion也可以缩写成b。听完之后再将它们还原成汉语的数字表达法。