Tax Laws

A tax is a monetary charge that is placed on a taxpayer by state and federal governments. A tax can either be direct or indirect, depending on how it is handled. Some taxes are paid directly to the government, while others, such as sales tax, are paid by stores at the time tax returns are due. When taxes are not paid to the government, severe penalties may be given to the taxpayer failing to pay. The primary purpose of taxes are to support the government, which carries out many functions, including expenditures for war, wages for law enforcement and other public services, for protection of property, funding of education, among other uses.

What are Tax Laws?
Tax laws are defined as a system of law that describes “government levies on economic transactions.” Tax laws basically describe the provisions and necessary rules of taxpayers to pay their debts to the government. If tax laws are not followed by institutions or individuals, the offending entity is criminally charged by the government. Tax laws are often a very complicated set of laws and it is quite common for the tax laws to be amended every year. It is also very common for hundreds of pages of federal tax code to be altered for the rules regarding filing income tax returns during the tax period up until April 15th. (New tax laws for the new year generally place tax return rules for the tax period of the prior year.) These new tax laws are enforced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Purchasing Savings Bonds:
Paying taxes and understanding tax laws is a very complicated process, and as a result, with every year comes new tax laws. For the year 2010, tax laws allow for taxpayers to use the tax refunds they receive to purchase savings bonds. The reason for this new implementation to new tax laws, is to assist all taxpaying individuals to build up their savings for after they retire. The bonds are valued up to $5,000 and are low-risk, liquid Treasury I Bonds, meaning that they are protected against inflation.

Direct Deposit:
In addition, a new direct deposit option is now available as well for the year 2010 in tax laws. This new feature helps remove the stress and hassle that the tax year requires by allowing electronic transfer of tax refunds into the financial accounts of taxpaying individuals. This helpful feature allows users to receive their tax refund within ten days of filing their taxes. This is also considered by the IRS to be the safest way to receive tax returns.

According to 2010 tax laws, a taxpayer has the option of receiving their electronic tax refund into one bank account or he or she can split it into several accounts (up to two or three). It is as simple as setting up direct deposit at a job. All that is needed is the financial account number and the routing number on the tax form.

Federal Law

The general definition of federal law is the laws that are created and enforced by the federal government within a country A federal government is when a group of political bodies are bound together (usually called states or provinces) and join together to form a single governmental body. As a result, they surrender their individual sovereignty and other rights to a central government, though they retain many other rights and receive other benefits in return. Due to the nature of this governmental structure, a single territory or region may be governed by two or more governments at once, through the federal level, state level and local level. Law that is created and enacted by the central government is referred to as federal law.

Federal Laws in the United States:
The United States Constitution provides federal laws that governs national affairs and concerns. These include international relationships, currency, and national defense. Federal laws are always perceived as superior to state laws in the United States. If a state law contradicts federal law, usually the U.S. Supreme Court determines which law is correct and enforceable. Essentially, federal law is defined is

After the United States Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States was established and put into federal law. It was designed as the “Reconstruction Act”, a federal law that would heal the nation after the Civil War tore it apart. To give a common body of law to all the states in the U.S., the Fourteenth Amendment placed the Bill of Rights (the term used to describe the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution) into each state’s constitution.

What is the United States Constitution:
The United States Constitution is considered to be the prime set of federal laws governed within the United States. The Constitution is a document that lays down the skeleton of federal laws, consisting of Congress acts, treaties created by Congress, guidelines amended and formed by the executive branch, and case decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.

What Structure of Law Does the United States Operate Under?
The United States is considered to be a dual-sovereign system where states provide what are called plenary sovereigns, and federal sovereignty is provided from the limited, but supreme rule of the Constitution. State law may overrule federal law, as long as fundamental and basic rights in the Constitution are not infringed upon. Overall, state laws provide most of the laws that govern the United States.

The Origin of United States Law:
The United States federal laws and state laws have taken their model system from the common law system of English law. This was a system that was in place in England during the years of the Revolutionary War. However, the United States system of law has also implemented various other systems, including civil law to make it a wholly unique system by which numerous other countries have been inspired by.

Child Custody Laws

During a divorce, the two parties involved go through several proceedings, including division of property and possible alimony guidelines. In addition, if the divorcing couple have children, then proceedings continue with through determining who receives custody and the amount of child support paid by each party. Custody proceedings are usually peaceful and both parties come to agreements that they both are satisfied with. Child custody is just as much a right as it is a duty. It involves caring for a child and making important decisions that will affect the child’s life.

What is the Definition of Child Custody Laws?

Child custody laws is a term used to describe the legal relationship between a custodial parent and his or her child and the legal right he or she has to make decisions in the best interest of the child. Custody laws in the United States grant a parent or family member the legal right to raise the child their sole or joint custody, and another parent of the child may be given visitation rights The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has recently created, however, a national standard of terms used to describe the United States’ version of custody law and visitation. They call it “residence” and “contact”, respectively. In addition, custody laws on the international level usually refer to residence and contact as “parenting scheduling”. This is done to disregard the terms of custodial and noncustodial parents; this done to ease the child’s worries and to ease tension in divorce disputes in custody laws proceedings.

As mentioned earlier, issues causing residence and contact proceedings typically include the termination of a marriage and other similar legal proceedings in which a child is involved. The international standard when choosing which parent or person receives custody of the child is usually done in a process that takes a child’s best interest in mind. It is no secret that within child custody laws, is where the most heated disputes take place between two or more parties involved. Arguments are usually turned ugly fast, usually in desperate attempts to gain custody of the child.

Child Custody Laws in the United States:
Using New York State as an example, child custody laws are typical as follows:
For all children under the age of 18, custody of the child is a mandatory proceeding within divorce disputes involving children. In almost all cases, child custody laws state that child custody is rewarded to either the mother or the father, unless under a unique circumstance where another family member may receive custody if both parents are deemed unfit to raise a child.

Facts Pertaining to Child Custody Laws:
According to reports, paternal child custody rewards were approximately 15 percent.

In the 12 million single parent families within the United States, 10 million of them are run by single parent mothers.

According to research by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 87 percent of women say that they hug their children at least once a day, while 73 percent of fathers did the same.

State Laws

What is Domestic Violence?
Also known as domestic abuse and spousal abuse, domestic violence has a broad definition. It can be any type of abusive behavior by a single partner in a relationship or both partners in an intimate relationship. Examples of possible relationships with domestic violence can include marriage, dating, family, friends or anybody who lives with another person. The many forms of domestic violence can include anything done to inflict physical harm, such as punching, slapping, kicking, or using other objects to inflict injury on another person. It can also be sexual abuse as well, or emotional abuse, such as name calling, controlling or using intimidation. An abuser may inflict domestic violence on another individual because of alcohol consumption and it may also be caused by a mental illness.

How Common is Domestic Violence?
It is hard to say how often domestic violence actually occurs, but according to research estimations, only about a third of domestic violence incidents are reported in the United States and the United Kingdom. The Center for Disease Control strongly affirms that domestic violence is a growing consider that affects more than 30 million Americans, or in other words, roughly 10 percent of the population.

Is Domestic Violence Against the Law?
Depending on the kind of domestic violence taking place in a relationship and the severity of it, domestic violence may be legally enforceable by state laws. Another factor that may constitute domestic violence as a crime in state law is the duration of such abuse.

How is Domestic Violence Handled by State Law?
Forty-six states in the United States have domestic violence written into their state laws. The majority of these state laws are usually found in domestic relation state law, but they may also be organized into family service laws. State law generally provide a safe haven for people who have been abused to contact protective services.

According to thirty-five of the state laws, including the Virgin Islands, they specify what constitutes domestic violence. This includes sexual assault, assault or battery, causing physical harm, playing fear within the victim, stalking, harassment, kidnapping and unlawful restraint. Nine other states have domestic violence definitions within their civil state laws.

Although it is a growing concern, many states do not define domestic violence within their child abuse state law. West Virginia and Montana are two of the few states that define an act of child abuse or neglect as domestic violence.

Thirty-four states list domestic violence within their criminal state law codes. Violent acts that threaten the safety and health of individuals are grounds for criminal arrest within these domestic violence state laws. However, all states have listed in their law statutes that only people in a close personal relationship are protected by the domestic violence state laws. This includes spouses, former spouses, people in cohabitation, or those who are or have been in an intimate relationship together. Only thirty-eight of these states list children as those protected under these laws.

Employment Law

Also known as employment law, labor laws are a body of laws, rulings and precedents which go over the legal rights and obligations of employees and the employers that provide them wages for their work. Since the relationship between an employee and an employer can usually be extremely temperamental, labor laws have been established to mediate the relations between the two. Parties involved within employment law are employees, employers and trade unions.

What is a Trade Union?
In employment law, a trade union is an organization made up of workers from a single company, or an industry with similar organizations for a common goal. The goal of a trade union is to ensure the safety of employees, create fair working environments, fair wages, and ensure that all procedures and interactions between the employer and the employee are fair. Trade unions generally negotiate with employers on subjects such as labor contracts, fair wages, fair rules and regulations, hiring procedures, firing procedures and other elements of employment law. Employment laws allow trade unions to organize strikes in a company if their needs and demands are not met, they can perform collective bargaining and other political activity.

Collective Employment Law (also known as Collective Labor Law):
The primary concerns of people involved in collective employment law is to establish a fair relationship between the employer, employee and the trade unions (trade unions are commonly referred to as labor unions).

Strikes:
Collective employment law can sometimes lead to strikes within a company. A strike can be thought of as a weapon used by employees during times of employment law disputes and are usually highly effective in getting workers’ message across and receiving what they believe is fair. Information about strikes:

• Strikes are generally voted upon by trade unions. This is important because they would not be effective if not everyone agrees on it and not everyone is interested in participating.

• Employment laws allow for general strikes to be legally overturned if a public order is issued. A general strike is the most common type of strike done today and organized by trade unions.

• Employees involved in strikes are generally only safe if they are a member of a trade union airport and health personnel, teachers, police and firemen are all restricted from participating in a strike.

Pickets:
A picket is commonly referred to in collective employment law as a tactic done by workers during a strike. It involves employees in a strike convening outside their place of business, making their presence known to the business officials, while preventing other workers from “breaking” or “crossing” the picket line to work. Many countries outlaw pickets from being formed, including Great Britain.

Workplace Involvement:
This is an employment law that requires decisions made by a company to be first consulted with workers that the decision will affect. Another term that refers to this notion is industrial democracy, which is a stricter version of workplace involvement, that requires workers’ votes to be counted in addition to be consulted with.

Gun Control Laws

Gun laws are laws having to do with the right to own firearms. Gun laws are mandated by state law and usually put restrictions on guns depending on the person and the type of firearm that is being used. Gun laws has become a major controversial issue, with many conflicting views on the laws that govern the use and right to bear arms. There are many opinions on whether guns should be allowed to be used for public safety and whether or not the ownership of guns by citizens improves the safety of the public in general. The biggest reasons for gun control laws is because there is a large black market for the sale of unauthorized firearms, as well as illegal manufacturing of guns. In addition, deadly violence is attributed to guns in situations involving accidental shootings, killing sprees, criminal use of firearms, and self defense.

What is Gun Politics?
Gun politics has to do with the safety issues surrounding the use of firearms, whether they are used for noncriminal or criminal use. Gun politics usually involves people who are for gun use and the protection of gun laws that make them legal and the other side, which generally favor strict gun control laws to prevent crime and violence.

Issues Surrounding Gun Control Laws:
Many people believe that gun control laws are not strict enough in the United States, a country where guns have had large impact on the culture. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, which many people believe guarantees the rights of citizens to own guns, states that:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

This amendment can be interpreted in many ways, however. Gun control laws advocates believe that it is a law that is obsolete, because militias no longer are formed or exist within the context of the amendment. People who are for the right to own guns believe that it grants people the right to protect their property and they do not cause crime directly.

There are two fundamental issues when talking about gun laws and gun control laws. Does the government have a say in the regulation of guns? Also, are the policies that are created by the government adequate enough to ensure public safety?

Gun Control Laws:
There is an estimated 20,000 gun laws in the United States, 300 of them being guns laws pertaining to the manufacture, sale, purchase and possession of guns. Gun laws and gun control laws vary by jurisdiction on the state and local levels. If a state allows guns to be carried by citizens, local jurisdictions may ban that right. Recent gun control laws and efforts state that guns are required to have a serial number and follow a tracking system to determine where it was manufactured and who owns it. Also, convicted felons and other individuals are not allowed to legally own a gun.

Car Seat Laws

Child car seats, also known as infant safety seats and child safety seats, is a restraint that is fastened to the backseat of a car using the safety harness to secure it in place. They are designed to provide the utmost safety level for children riding in a car in the event of an automobile crash. Since cars and their seats are not designed with child safety in mind, child safety laws and car seat laws have been set into place in many jurisdictions in countries across the world.

Child car seat laws are required by law in many countries for children up to about the age of 3 or 4. The child safety laws do not depend on the age of the child, however, but the height and weight of the child. In many instances, children are “graduated” to the next level of child safety seats, which each successive one providing more mobility than the last. Child safety seat laws require that the seats be placed in the backseat. The reason for this is because when a child seat is placed in the front, severe injuries and even death can occur in minor accidents when the airbag is deployed with the child in the passenger seat. Although car safety laws require the use of the seats while transporting a child, recent studies have shown that children should spend very little time in them to avoid plagiocephaly (also known as “flat head syndrome”).

Different Levels of Child Car Seats:

Many car seat laws require that a child be restrained within safety seats, but as the child gets older, different car seats may be used.

Group 0:

When a baby is first born, group 0 child safety seats position infants in a rear-facing position and the seat is secured by the standard safety belt of a car. These are used from when the child is born to about 12 months old. It is recommended that child face the rear of the car for as long as possible.

Group 1:

Car seats that face the front of the car and are held securely to the car by the seat belt of the car. These are recommended for children from 9 months to 3 years old.

Group 2:

This is a larger design than group 1 and use an adult seat belt to hold the child in a safe position. Used from
4 to 6 years of age.

In the United States, child safety laws and car seat laws require that a child four years of age and younger to be within a car restraint seat. This applies to all fifty states. Also, some states require that booster seats be used for children aged four to ten, although the requirements generally depend on the height and weight of the child. This is to provide further protection for older children sitting in the backseat. Children of all ages are not recommended to sit in the front because of serious injury that can occur when the airbag is deployed.

Drunk Driving and DUI Law

DUI (driving under the influence) laws are laws against people who drive when impaired by either drugs, alcohol or other dangerous substances. Also known as DWI (driving while intoxicated), DUI laws are very strict, and depending on the actual situation, can lead to jail time and significant fines. The reason why DUI laws are strict is because of the danger of driving while impaired. According to recent studies, 39 percent of vehicle-related deaths in the United States are related to drunk driving. Also, drunk driving amounts to $51 billion in damages every year. If a death occurs in a drunk driving incident, the person accused of being drunk is usually given a lengthy prison sentence.
How Are is Guilt Established in a Drunk Driving Case?

In most cases, a person is initially suspected of driving drunk or under the influence of drugs if he or she weaves or drivers erratically. If a police officer notices anything suspicious of a driver, he or she may pull the driver over and perform a number of simple tests to see if the driver is indeed drunk or under the influence of drugs. These tests can include reciting the alphabet backwards, walking in a straight line or any other test that would prove to be difficult for an intoxicated person to perform. If the driver of the vehicle fails the test, he or she may be arrested.

If the police officer has further reason to investigate, he may perform a breathalyzer test, which calculates, roughly, the amount of alcohol in a person’s blood stream. Under DUI laws, if a person has a BAC of .08 or higher, than he or she is over the legal limit, and will be arrested for drunk driving or driving while impaired. A reading below .08 may prove to be safe for the driver, but the police officer may still have reason to arrest the driver for drunk driving if he or she was driving erratically.

Research Performed That Gives Merit to DUI Laws:
In 2009, the results of a study performed by the Public Health Law Research organization were released. The aim of the study was to conclude whether or not the DUI laws placed for drunk driving were effective in preventing people from driving on the road drunk.

The study concluded that breath testing was an effective way of providing intervention in the time of a drunk driving incident occurring. They also contributed to the reduction of danger that comes with driving impaired. The study also concluded that reducing the blood alcohol content maximum DUI law for drivers under the age of 21 would significantly reduce the dangers of driving on the road. The study also concluded that reducing the blood alcohol content maximum DUI law in all persons would significantly reduce annual deaths in drunk driving related accidents.

The study also put to rest many arguments of lowering the drinking age to 18 from 21. DUI laws and other laws set in place for the minimum age of drinking are effective and should not be changed, for the sake of the population’s safety on the road.

Labor

What are Labor Laws?
Also known as employment law, labor laws are a body of laws, rulings and precedents which go over the legal rights and obligations of employees and the employers that provide them wages for their work. Since the relationship between an employee and an employer can usually be extremely temperamental, labor laws have been established to mediate the relations between the two. Parties involved within labor law are employees, employers and trade unions.

What are Trade Unions?
In labor law, a trade union is an organization made up of workers of an organization or several organizations in the same field who have banded together to achieve a common goal. Their main focus is to establish safe working conditions within an organization and fair treatment of the workers. Trade unions usually negotiate with employers on behalf of the members so that their labor contracts are fair in all aspects, such as wages, rules and regulations, hiring procedures, firing procedures, benefits, and the safety of the workers in the work environment. Labor unions gain their power through the number of workers that are members. They can organize strikes in the company if their needs and demands are not met, they can perform collective bargaining and other political activity.

History of Labor Laws:
Labor laws were the result of workers demanding better conditions, better treatment from they’re employers, and the right to organize. It was also a way for workers to protect themselves and they’re well-being. As a result of labor laws, employer’s costs may increase because of employees demanding higher wages or by strict labor laws set in place for minimum wages. The trade unions, under labor law have gained a considerable amount of political power as well. That being said, labor law is the direct result of the struggles between interests of both the employee and the employer, as well as larger issues of society.

Contract of Employment:
In almost all countries around the world, the terms of the employee and the employer under labor law is outlined within the contract of employment. All of the obligations, what is expected of the employee and the employer are covered and mediated within it. Many of the terms and conditions in the contract are implied through common law and restrict employees from being able to agree to unfair terms in exchange for the job.

Minimum Wage:
Labor law usually states a wage in which an employer must agree to pay an worker at the bare minimum, and cannot go any lower than that wage for any reason. Countries that have minimum wage labor laws are Australia, Canada, China, Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States. The minimum wage is usually determined from the laws of supply and demand and acts as a price floor.

Time of Work:
Before the times of the Industrial Revolution, it was commonplace for work days to last fourteen hours. When machines started to take over factory lines, the work days, in fact, rose to about fifteen. The eight hour movement soon began to receive momentum, and the standard work day was shortened.