Taxation has been around for thousands of years. In the past, kings and queens levied it to raise money for wars, but in the modern world, it’s become a perpetual burden on regular working people.

You would have thought, though, that having been around for so long, humanity would have figured out taxation by now. There are still, however, some pretty thorny issues regarding how much money the state should confiscate from citizens.

One issue has to do with the green revolution. A growing vocal segment of society is now arguing that we should essentially shut down the modern economy and replace it with a green alternative. The idea is to shift humanity away from dangerous fossil fuels and put us all on the path to sustainability. Then, and only then, can future generations enjoy standards of living as we do.

The current tax system, however, isn’t set up to usher in a world like that. In fact, right now, the majority of fossil fuel companies can set up tax devices called Master Limited Partnerships that shield them from regular corporate taxation.

Another controversial tax is the estate tax, sometimes called the “death tax.” Here the IRS takes 40 percent of the value of your estate and uses it for government purposes. Again, it’s a controversial tax because all the income the person used to create the estate was already taxed.

Are you interested in controversies concerning taxation? If so, take a look at the following infographic, which lists some of the current issues in the field.

For more, click here