Questions for topics:

1. What does economics study?

Economics studies how people choose to use limited resources to produce goods and
services in order to best satisfy human demand. Resources consist of natural resources
such as …; human resources including ………. and capital such as ….. All these
resources are limited/ scarce while human demand is unlimited. That’s why it’s
necessary to study economics. And economists study economic phenomena by 2
different avenues: microeconomics and macroeconomics.
(Economics has 2 branches microeconomics and macroeconomics)
2. What does microeconomics study?
Microeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with how consumers, workers and
firms behave while making decisions on the allocation of their scarce resources. Because
their resources are limited so all consumers, workers and firms have to make trade-offs.
For example, first, consumers have to trade off the purchase of more of some goods with
the purchase of less of others. Second, workers have to make choice of employment,
employer (who to work for), and how many hours for work. Last, firms have to decide
what to produce, how to produce and for whom to produce.
Microeconomics also studies other important themes such as the role of prices and the
role of markets in the economy.
Firstly,
Secondly,
Lastly
Moreover/ In addition

Deal with = study = look at + behavior of consumers, workers and firms

3. What does macroeconomics study?
- Macroeconomics is the branch of economics that studies the role of both markets (the
invisible hand) and governments (the visible hand) in the economy. Specifically,
macroeconomics studies interactions among all economic factors such as economic
growth, inflation, employment and so on, as well as economic relations between
different countries in the world. / as well as international marketplace.
Moreover, macroeconomics also studies the regulation of the economy by the
government. Usually, the government uses macroeconomics policies such as fiscal policy
and monetary policy to promote the economic growth, to reduce unemployment and to
control inflation.
(Economic factors such as supply, demand, price, economic growth, employment,
inflation and so on can interact with one another. And the governments also regulate the

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economy by using their macroeconomic policies such as fiscal policy and monetary
policy.
Macroeconomics studies not only overall economic trends within one economy but also
interactions among different economies in the world. )
4. What are differences between microeconomics and macroeconomics?
Microeconomics Macroeconomics
- studies behavior of consumers, workers - studies the interactions among all
and firms economic factors (the role of markets in
the economy), the role of governments in
the economy, as well as economic
relations between different countries in
the world.
- Micro focuses on theories of - Macro focuses on how governments
consumers, workers and firms use their macroeconomic policies to
regulate the economy.

- Behavior of individuals and firms are - The economy is influenced by both the
influenced by prices and other forces in market (invisible hand) and the
the markets as well as by decisions of government (visible hand)
the government.
-

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 UNIT 2 PUBLIC FINANCE
VOCABULARY
What is Public Finance?

Public finance is the management of a country’s revenue, expenditures, and debt load
through various government and quasi-government institutions. This guide provides an
overview of how public finances are managed, what the various components of public
finance are, and how to easily understand what all the numbers mean. A country’s
financial position can be evaluated in much the same way as a business’ financial
statements.

various government and quasi-government institutions = governments at all levels

Components of Public Finance

The main components of public finance include activities related to collecting revenue,
making expenditures to support society, and implementing a financing strategy (such as
issuing government debt). The main components include:

Tax collection

Tax collection is the main revenue source for governments. Examples of taxes collected
by governments include sales tax, income tax (a type of progressive tax), estate tax, and
property tax. Other types of revenue in this category include duties and tariffs on imports
and revenue from any type of public services that are not free.

tax = death tax = inheritance tax: a tax paid on the value of the property, money, and
other assets of someone who has died: thuế thừa kế

- Many people don't understand how the estate tax laws actually work.

A property tax is a tax that you pay on property you own. – thuế bất động sản

- We've got the highest property taxes in the United States.

The sales tax – thuế bán hàng - on things that you buy is the amount of money that you
pay to the national government, or, in the United States, to the local or state government.

Tariffs = customs duty – thuế hải quan

Where does the government’s revenue come from?

The government’s revenue mostly comes from the collection of different types of taxes
such as sales tax, income tax, estate tax, and property tax, etc.

A smaller portion of the government’s revenue comes from any type of public services
that are not free.

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Budget

The budget is a plan of what the government intends to have as expenditures in a fiscal
year. In the U.S., for example, the president submits to Congress a budget request, the
House and Senate create bills for specific aspects of the budget, and then the President
signs them into law. Read a copy of 2017 Budget of the U.S. government, as published
by the Office of Management and Budget.

Expenditures

Expenditures are everything that a government actually spends money on, such as social
programs, education, and infrastructure. Much of the government’s spending is a form of
income or wealth redistribution, which is aimed at benefiting society as a whole. The
actual expenditures may be greater than or less than the budget.

What does the government spend money on?

Deficit/Surplus

If the government spends more then it collects in revenue there is a deficit in that year. If
the government has less expenditure than it collects in taxes, there is a surplus.

National Debt

If the government has a deficit (spending is greater than revenue), it will fund the
difference by borrowing money and issuing national debt. The U.S. Treasury is
responsible for issuing debt, and when there is a deficit, the Office of Debt Management
(ODM) will make the decision to sell government securities to investors.

Fund = finance = cover (bù đắp) the difference = deficit (thâm hụt)

national debts (bonds:the treasury bonds/ municipal bonds/ government bonds)

Who can buy treasury bonds?

Managing Public Finance

Let’s take a closer look at how taxes, expenditures, and the deficit work. Below is a
diagram of how the three are connected, and how the government determines how much
financing it needs in a given fiscal year.

Total government revenue or tax collection is represented by the blue bar. This is a
source of cash for the government.

Expenditures are a use of cash, and to the extent that they are greater than revenue, there
is a deficit.

The difference between revenue and expenditures is the deficit (or surplus) that is funded
with national debt.

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2017 U.S. Figures
Now that the concept has been illustrated, let’s look at a real public finance example with
the U.S. government in 2017.
2017 example:
Revenue was approximately $3.3 trillion
Spending was $3.97 trillion
Deficit was $665 billion
(Source: https://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/2017)

Revenue and Expenditures

Below is a list of some of the most common revenues and expenditures in the world of
public finance.
Revenue / Taxes
 Income tax (personal, corporate)
 Property tax
 Sales tax
 Value added tax (VAT)
 Import duties
 Estate tax
Expenses
Health care (khám chữa bệnh theo bảo hiểm)
Employment insurance:
In some countries, a government plan that pays money to employees when they are
unable to work, for example, because they have become sick, have had a child, or have
lost their job:
Illness
Sickness allowance –

Pensions – lương hưu

Education – giáo dục
Defense (military) – quốc phòng/ quân đội
Infrastructure – cơ sở hạ tâng

Answer the following questions

1. Where does the government’s revenue come from?

The government’s revenue comes from/ is generated from tax collection.

2. What does the government spend money on?

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The government spends money on social security and medicare, government programs &
projects such as defense, military, and infrastructure such as transport, power supplies,
etc.

Social security = Social programs: chương trình an sinh xã hội

Social programs in the United States are programs (which are) designed to ensure that
the basic needs of the American population are met. Federal and state social programs
include cash assistance, health insurance, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and
utilities subsidies, and education and childcare assistance. Similar benefits are sometimes
provided by the private sector either through policy mandates or on a voluntary basis.
Employer-sponsored health insurance is an example of this.

Social programs = social security – hoạt động an sinh xã hội

Specific programs (social security and medicare) include paying pensions for retired
people, subsidies for social families, employment insurance, subsidies for victims of
accidents or natural disasters, medicare and so on.
Refer to + sth/ mean/ describe/
Infrastructure (n) – cơ sở hạ tầng: the basic systems and services, such as transport – hệ
thống giao thông - and power supplies – hệ thống điện lưới, that a country or
organization uses in order to work effectively:
- The war has badly damaged the country's infrastructure.
- It is a long-term task to rebuild the infrastructure of a war-torn country such as
Angola.
- The industry was accused of having invested little in workers, plant or
infrastructure.
- The minister is responsible for the country's transport infrastructure.
- More money is needed to maintain the city's infrastructure.
- Improvements are being made to the region's decrepit infrastructure.

Social welfare: phúc lợi xã hội

social security
meet = satisfy + wants/ needs:
3. Who can buy treasury bonds?
- Individuals
- Companies
- Banks
- other countries

4. What is public finance?

Public finance is the management of a country’s revenue, expenditurefs, and debt by
governments at all levels, central and local governments.

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5. What does “state budget” mean?
The budget is a plan of what the government intends to have as expenditures in a fiscal
year.
Ngân sách nhà nước là kế hoạch chi tiêu của Chính phủ trong 1 năm.

6. Give some examples for different types of taxes?

There are different types of taxes such as ….
7. What is personal income tax?
Personal income tax is the tax paid by people on the money they earn.
Personal income tax is the tax imposed on personal incomes.

- impose/ levy + tax + on sth = to tax sth: đánh thuế vào cái gì

8. What is customs duty?

Customs duty is the tax imposed on imported goods/ imports.
9. What is excise tax?
Excise tax is the tax imposed on specific goods and services such as alcohol, tabaco,
hotels and restaurants, etc.
10. What is corporate income tax?
Corporate income tax is the tax imposed on corporate incomes.

11. What are progressive taxes?

Progressive taxes are the taxes imposed at higher tax rates on higher incomes (taxable
money).

12. What are regressive taxes?

A regressive tax is the tax imposed at the same tax rates for both the poor and the rich.
VAT = 10% of bills
Sales tax

A. The participles (Phân từ)

1. The present participle – V-ing: Phân từ 1
 Sau các động từ: see, hear, feel, smell, listen to, notice (nhận thấy), watch (theo
dõi), catch (bắt gặp)
Ví dụ:
- I see him passing my house every day. (passing – he: anh ấy)
(Tôi nhìn thấy anh ấy đi ngang qua nhà tôi mỗi ngày)
- I often listen to them playing music. Tôi thường nghe họ chơi nhạc.

 Sau các động từ: go, come, spend (time), waste (time), be busy
Ví dụ:
- Let’s go dancing.
Go + shopping (đi mua sắm)/ camping – cắm trại/ fishing – câu đi/ cycling – đi đạp
xe/ swimming – đi bơi/ …

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 - Spend + time + doing sth: dành bao nhiêu thời gian làm gì.
- Every day we waste much time browsing facebook.

 Trước hay sau danh từ, thay cho một mệnh đề tính ngữ:
Ví dụ:
- She tried to calm down the crying child. (the child who was crying.)
- He came up to the policeman (who was) standing at the corner.

 Thay thế cho một số mệnh đề trạng ngữ:

Ví dụ:
- Coming up to the door I found it locked. (= when I came …)
- Having done my homework I went out. (= After I had done …)
- Being small he went through the hole easily. (= Because he was small …)

 Trường hợp có 2 hoặc hơn 2 động từ của cùng một chủ ngữ:
Ví dụ:
- He stood at the door looking at the tree. (He stood and looked …)

2. The past participle – V-ed: Phân từ 2

 Sau động từ see, hear … với nghĩa bị động
Ví dụ:
- I saw the boy beaten.
 Sau “have, want, get” với nghĩa bị động
Ví dụ:
- I have my hair cut every month.

 Trước hay sau danh từ, thay cho một mệnh đề tính ngữ:
Ví dụ:
- I read the letter (which was) written in English.
- The stolen watch was never found again. (= the watch which was stolen)
 Thay thế cho một số mệnh đề trạng ngữ:
Ví dụ:
- When (she was) asked, she didn’t answer.
- If (I am) asked I’ll tell the truth.
- Though (he was) forced to speak, he didn’t say a word.

MỘT SỐ LƯU Ý VỚI MỆNH ĐỀ PHÂN TỪ

1. Một mệnh đề phân từ có thể chỉ là một phân từ.
- Everyone just stood there talking. (Mọi người chỉ đứng đó nói chuyện.)
Cũng có thể có thêm tân ngữ hoặc trạng ngữ.
- We saw a policeman chasing someone. (Chúng tôi thấy cảnh sát đang đuổi theo
ai đó.)
- Cut (PII) above the right eye, the boxer was unable to continue. (Bị thương trúng
mắt phải, võ sĩ quyền anh đó không thể tiếp tục được nữa.)
- cut – cut – cut

2. Một phân từ đôi khi có thể có chủ ngữ.

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 - The lights having gone out, we couldn't see a thing. (Mất điện, chúng tôi không
thể thấy gì cả.)
- Because the lights had gone out, ……
Nếu không có chủ ngữ ở đó, người ta có thể hiểu là mệnh đề phân từ có cùng chủ ngữ
với mệnh đề chính.
- The men sat round the table playing cards. (Những người đàn ông ngồi quanh
bàn đang chơi bài.)

Thường chủ ngữ được lược bỏ chính là chủ ngữ trong mệnh đề chính.
- Walking across the field, we saw a plane flying past. (Khi đang đi qua cánh đồng,
chúng tôi thấy có một máy bay bay ngang qua.)
Ta không thể dùng mệnh đề chính mà không có we.
KHÔNG DÙNG Walking across the field, a plane flew past.
Câu này có nghĩa là máy bay đi ngang qua cánh đồng, điều này vô lí.
Hãy xem câu sau.
- Sitting at a table, the band played for them.
Câu này dễ bị hiểu lầm vì nó có thể mang nghĩa là ban nhạc đang ngồi ở bàn.
Câu sau là câu đúng:
- Sitting at a table, they listened to the band. (Ngồi ở bàn, họ lắng nghe ban nhạc.)
Ở đây chủ ngữ được ngầm hiểu là giống với chủ ngữ của mệnh đề chính.
Nhưng đôi khi chủ ngữ ở 2 mệnh đề có thể khác nhau vì không dễ gây hiểu lầm.
- Knowing how little time she had, this new delay infuriated her. (Biết còn rất ít
thời gian, sự trì hoãn thêm này khiến cô ấy bực bội.)
- When adjusting the machine, the electricity supply should be disconnected. (Khi
điều chỉnh máy, nguồn điện nên được ngắt.)
Các chủ ngữ không cần giống nhau khi chúng ta dùng following, considering, regard.
- Following the lecture, we were able to ask questions. (Sau bài giảng này chúng
tôi có thể hỏi vài câu hỏi.)
- Considering the awful weather, our Open Day was a great success. (Xét đến yếu
tố thời tiết xấu thì Open Day của chúng tôi đã thành công rực rỡ.)
- No action has been taken regarding your complaint. (Không có động thái gì liên
quan đến những phàn nàn của anh.)

Public finance:
the money that a government has available to spend from taxes and borrowing:
- Which country has been most successful in managing its public finances?
- public finance department/figures/forecasts
Government’s incomes/ revenues come/ are generated from 2 sources of taxation and
borrowing.
Generate (v) to cause something to exist:
- Her latest film has generated a lot of interest/excitement.
- The new development will generate 1,500 new jobs.

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 - Selling food will increase the club's ability to generate revenue/income.

If you redeem a bond or mutual fund shares, you get the principal or cash back from it. –
tất toán
COLLOCATIONS: ~ a bond~ a security~ shares
- Bonds (trái phiếu) usually have a defined term, or maturity, (kỳ hạn xác địch)
after which the bond is redeemed, whereas stocks (cổ phiếu) may be outstanding
indefinitely.
- A senior security is a security that, in the event of bankruptcy (phá sản), will be
redeemed before any other securities.
Security (n) chứng khoán: chủ yếu là cổ phiếu và trái phiếu + một số loại giấy tờ có giá
khác.
A principal is the amount of money originally borrowed on a loan. – vốn gốc
A loan is a sum of money that you borrow.
- The country has no access to (không tiếp cận được) foreign loans (khoản vay từ
nước ngoài) or financial aid.
- The president wants to make it easier for small businesses to get bank loans.
- ...loan repayments.(trả góp cho tiền vay)(
If you loan (v) something to someone, you lend it to them. Cho ai mượn cái gì
To loan sth to sbd/ To loan sbd sth = lend (v)
- He had kindly offered to loan us all the plants required for the exhibit. [VERB
noun noun]
- We were approached by the Royal Yachting Association to see if we would loan
our boat to them
Principal + interests (tiền lãi)
Interest is extra money that you receive if you have invested a sum of money. Interest is
also the extra money that you pay if you have borrowed money or are buying something
on credit. (mua trả góp)
- Does your current account (tài khoản không kỳ hạn) pay interest?
- This is an important step toward lower (v) (giảm) interest rates.
- Investors have the choice of having not just the principal, but also the dividends
cumulatively being converted into shares.
Savings accounts: tiền gửi tiết kiệm – tài khoản có kỳ hạn
Overdraft facility: dịch vụ thấu chi
Visa card
Senior Security: chứng khoán ưu tiên

10
Chứng khoán có trái quyền trên lợi nhuận và tài sản, phải được trả trước những người
nắm giữ chứng khoán khác. Các trái phiếu có quyền ưu tiên hơn cổ phiếu ưu đãi, và cổ
phiếu ưu đãi có quyền ưu tiên hơn cổ phiếu thường.
- Preferred shares: cổ phiếu ưu đãi
- Common shares: cổ phiếu thường
If you redeem a debt or money that you have promised to someone, you pay money that
you owe or that you promised to pay.
[formal]
- The amount required to redeem the mortgage (khoản vay có thế chấp) was
£358,587. [VERB noun]
- Tickets are non-exchangeable (không thể chuyển đổi), cannot be redeemed for
cash. [VERB noun]

Verb + able => adj

Ví dụ: port (v) – portable, manage – manageable;
A treasury bill is a short-term (adj – ngắn hạn) bond that is issued by the United States
government in order to raise money.
Short-term > < long-term (Adj): dài hạn
Issue (v): phát hành
Raise (v) huy động vốn/
in American English
treasury bill is a short-term obligation of the U.S. Treasury, (which matures) maturing in
one year or less, bearing no interest and sold periodically on the open market on a
discount basis
- The Japanese routinely purchase more than a third of U.S. Treasury Bills.
in British English
treasury bill is a short-term noninterest-bearing obligation issued by the Treasury,
payable to bearer and maturing usually in three months, within which it is tradable on a
discount basis on the open market.
obligation (which bears) bearing no interest = noninterest-bearing obligation
If something such as a bank account or an investment bears interest, interest is paid on it.
- The eight-year bond will bear annual interest of 10.5%.
In Britain, the United States, and some other countries, the Treasury is the government
department that deals with the country's finances.
- The Treasury has long been predicting an upturn in consumer spending.

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perpetual (adj): lasting or enduring forever or for an indefinitely long time; eternal;
permanent
- In some places the perpetual conflict is unavoidable.
A country's national debt is all the money that the government of the country has
borrowed and still owes.
Owe sth to sbd: nợ ai cái gì
- He talked about the importance of reducing the national debt.
- No wonder then that the national debts of so many countries are reaching
astronomical proportions.
When an investment such as a savings policy (sổ tiết kiệm) or pension plan, life
insurance policy (hợp đồng bảo hiểm nhân thọ) matures/ reaches maturity, it reaches the
stage when you stop paying money and the company pays you back the money you have
saved, and the interest your money has earned.
- Customers are told what their policies (hợp đồng) will be worth on maturity.
- Treasury bonds have maturities that extend out as far as 25 years or more.
If you have an obligation to do something, it is your duty (trách nhiệm) to do that thing.
- When teachers assign homework, students usually feel an obligation to do it.
Obligation (n): a legally enforceable agreement to perform some act, esp to pay money,
for the benefit of another party: nghĩa vụ về tài chính = liability (nợ)
Obligation (n): an instrument acknowledging indebtedness to secure the repayment of
money borrowed: giấy thông báo đòi nợ
floating debt: Nợ thả nổi+ Một phần NỢ QUỐC GIA được vay dưới dạng các CHỨNG
KHOÁN ngắn hạn thông thường dùng để chỉ bộ phận được thể hiện bởi HỐI PHIẾU BỘ
TÀI CHÍNH. Số nợ này là thả nổi theo nghĩa là nó liên tục giảm cho quá trình thanh
toán nợ
If something is security (tài sản thế chấp) for a loan, you promise to give that thing to
the person who lends you money, if you fail to pay the money back.
- The central bank will provide special loans, and the banks will pledge the land as
security.
Securities are stocks, shares, bonds, or other certificates that you buy in order to earn
regular interest from them or to sell them later for a profit.
- National banks can package their own mortgages and underwrite them as
securities.
- ...U.S. government securities and bonds.

2. Match the words or phrases from a - j with their definitions from 1 – 10

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 a. redeem f. floating debt
b. treasury bills g. consoles
c. perpetual loans h. transfer
d. national debt i. obligation
e. budget j. maturity

1. Debts that are payable for a period of time that has no fixed end
2. The movement of money from one person or group of persons to another, or from one
place or country to another – h: transfer payments: thanh toán chuyển khoản
3. Consisting mainly of short-term bills, or money borrowed at call
4. The date on which a bill of exchange (hối phiếu), promissory note, debenture or loan
stock becomes due for payment or repayment
5. The relation between debtor (người đi vay tiền) and creditor (người cho vay)
6. Interest-bearing securities or bonds having no maturity date
7. The total amount of money borrowed by the central government of a country on which
it has to pay interest.
8. An account of probable income and expenditure during a stated period.
9. To pay off, esp. loan stock, debentures and preference shares or stock.

10. Short-term government securities, sold at a discount, bearing no interest rate.

READING 1

Where Does the Money Come From?

Where does the G’s revenue come from?
The federal government raises (collect) trillions of dollars in tax revenue (thu từ thuế)
each year, though there are many different kinds of taxes. Some taxes fund (v) specific
government programs, while other taxes fund the government in general. When all taxes
for a given year are insufficient to cover (trang trải, chi cho) all of the government’s
expenses (expenditure) chi tiêu —which is often the case— the U.S. Treasury borrows
money to make up the difference. (khoản chênh lệch)

Tra từ điển để có định nghĩa bằng tiếng Anh + lấy ví dụ

Fund (v) When a person or organization funds something, they provide money for it.
- The airport is being privately funded by a construction group. [be VERB-ed]
- ...a new privately funded scheme.

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Funds (n) are amounts of money that are available to be spent, especially money that is
given to an organization or person for a particular purpose.
- The charity (tổ chức từ thiện) raises funds for research into Duchenne muscular
dystrophy.
- ...government funds
A fund is an amount of money that is collected or saved for a particular purpose.
- ...a pension fund. (quỹ lương hưu)
- ...a scholarship fund for undergraduate engineering students. (quỹ học bổng)

IMF is the abbreviation for International Monetary Fund

If something is sufficient (đủ) for a particular purpose, there is enough of it for the
purpose.
- One metre of fabric is sufficient to cover the exterior of an 18-in-diameter hatbox.
- Lighting levels should be sufficient for photography without flash.

If a sum of money covers something, it is enough to pay for it. – đủ để chi trả/ trang trải
cho cái gì đó.
- Send it to the address given with £1.50 to cover postage and administration.
[VERB noun]
- Those figures might not even cover the cost of breakages.

Expenses (n): incidental money spent in the performance of a job, commission, etc,
usually reimbursed (hoàn lại) by an employer (công ty = a firm) or allowable against tax.
- travelling expenses: chi phí đi lại
- As a member of the International Olympic Committee her fares and hotel
expenses were paid by the IOC.
- Can you claim this back on expenses?
Allowable costs or expenses (khoản chi phí/ chi tiêu miễn thuế) are amounts of money
that you do not have to pay tax on.
If one thing is incidental (phụ) to another, it is less important than the other thing or is
not a major part of it.
- You should also include incidental costs (phụ phí) such as taxis and
accommodation.

Total federal tax revenues in fiscal year 2014 are projected to be $3 trillion. These
revenues come from three major sources: income taxes paid by individuals, accounting

14
for 46 percent of all tax revenues; payroll taxes paid jointly by workers and employers,
accounting for 34 percent; and corporate income taxes paid by businesses, making up 11
percent. There are also a handful of other types of taxes like customs duties and excise
taxes that make up much smaller portions of federal revenue. Customs duties are taxes
on imports, paid by the importer, while excise taxes are taxes levied on specific goods,
like gasoline. This pie chart below shows how much each of these revenue sources are
expected to bring in during fiscal year 2014.

If a particular thing accounts for a part or proportion of something, that part or proportion
consists of that thing, or is used or produced by it. (chiếm tỷ trọng …)
- Computers account for 5% of the country's commercial electricity consumption.
The people or things that make up something are the members or parts that form that
thing.
- UK shoppers make up the largest percentage of foreign buyers.

Levy/ impose tax on sth: đánh thuế vào cái gì = tax sth

Impose (v): to place or set (a burden, tax, fine, etc. on or upon) as by authority
-

Payroll taxes (generate) => trust funds (are spent on) => social security and medicare

15
Income taxes + Tariffs + Excise taxes, etc. => federal funds => government’s projects
and programs
Expenditures on government’s projects & programs can be classified into:
- Capital spending
- Current spending

This pie chart shows the revenue from taxation is expected to bring in for the US
government in fiscal year 2014. Individual income taxes accounts for the highest
proportion (46% of the total projected tax revenue). Payroll taxess rank the second,
accounting for 34%, …

Once they (Tax revenues – các khoản thu từ thuế) are paid (được nộp) into the Treasury,
income taxes and corporate taxes are designated as federal funds, while payroll taxes
become trust funds. Federal funds are general revenues, meaning Congress and the
president can decide to spend them on just about anything when they conduct the annual
appropriations process. But trust funds can be used only to pay for very specific
programs. The vast majority of trust fund revenues pay for Social Security (an sinh xã
hội) and Medicare. (Y tế)

If something is designated for a particular purpose, it is set aside for that purpose.
- Some of the rooms were designated as offices. [beV-ed + as/for]
- ...scholarships designated for minorities. [VERB-ed]
- Smoking is allowed in designated areas. [VE
A handful of people or things is a small number of them.
- He surveyed the handful of customers at the bar. [+ of]
- One spring morning a handful of potential investors assembled in Quincy.

Federal funds (n) ngân sách liên bang: money that the US government makes available
for each state to pay for projects or research:
- Local taxes fund $4.7 billion of spending on schools, with state and federal funds
providing the rest.
- Many of the housing projects in the area were built with federal funds and tax
credits.
- $70,000/$2 million/5.5 billion, etc. in federal funds The national laboratory is
spending $60 million this year in federal funds on advanced biodetection systems.
State funds: ngân sách của bang

16
Local funds: ngân sách địa phương
Các loại thuế khác nhau:
- Payroll tax: những khoản trích theo lương phải nộp cho nhà nước (có thể công ty
trả, hoặc cả công ty và nhân viên cùng trả) – bảo hiểm xã hội + bảo hiểm y tế bắt
buôc (có thể có).
Social insurance (n) bảo hiểm xã hội
Health insurance
Payroll taxes refer to social insurance and health insurance as percentages of wages and
salaries paid jointly by both employers and employees

Pay + money + to sbd

Pay money for sth
Payroll (n) bảng lương
Individual income tax: thuế thu nhập cá nhân
(Personal) Individual income tax is the tax imposed on individual incomes.
Corporate income tax: thuế thu nhập doanh nghiệp
Customs duty: thuế hải quan (thuế nhập khẩu)
Excise tax: thuế tiêu thụ đặc biệt

Questions:
1. What are tax revenues spent on?
(What does the government spend tax revenues on?)
2. How are trust funds used?
3. How are federal funds used?
4. How can the federal government borrow more money? (In what ways)
- By issuing bonds and selling them
+ directly through the Treasury’s website
+ indirectly via banks or brokers.
- Selling bonds at a discount rate
5. Who can the government owe money to? (Which sources can the government
borrow money from?)
+ international investors
+ domestic investors: private investors, Federal Reserve, state & local
governments

Trust funds can only be used for/ spent on Social Security & Medicare include:

17
 + paying pensions for retired people: trả lương hưu
+ paying supports = giving subsidies/ supporting for social families/ the poor (chi
trả trợ cấp cho gia đình chính sách/ người nghèo
+ supporting victims of accidents, natural disasters, …
+ free medical services to children,
+ and so on.
Trust funds: Bảo hiểm xã hội.
Social Security (n) refers to the government programs that provide financial help and
services for old people, people whose husbands or wives have died, and people who are
unable to work – hoạt động an sinh xã hội
Chương trình của chính phủ Mỹ nhằm cung cấp hỗ trợ tài chính hay dịch vụ cho người
già, người góa, hay người không có khả năng lao động.
Social Security (n) refers to the government programs such as paying pensions for retired
people, unemployment benefits for the disable, supports for social families, and so on.

Federal funds: Ngân sách liên bang.

Federal funds are used for the government’s projects and programs, including:
Capital spending (chi cơ bản)
+ for infra-structure (new construction or improvements): which includes
transport systems, traffic lights, public buildings, public schools or hospitals, etc.
Current (government) spending (chi thường xuyên)
+ paying salaries for state employees
+ for running the government’s body.

Trust funds; pension funds, mutual funds, credit funds

Capital of a firm
Capital assets: tài sản cố định – buildings, factories, machines, equipments, etc.
Current assets: tài sản ngắn hạn

Borrowing
In most years, the federal government spends more money than it takes in from tax
revenues. To make up (cover) the difference, the Treasury borrows money by issuing
bonds. Anyone can buy Treasury bonds, and, in effect, lend money to the Treasury by
doing so. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government is
expected to borrow $616 billion in fiscal 2014. Borrowing constitutes a major source of

18
revenue for the federal government. Down the road, however, the Treasury must pay
back the money it has borrowed and pay interest as well.

G (government spending/ expenditure – T (Tax revenues) = a deficit

The Treasury issues bonds for borrowed money, one main source of government
revenues, with the repayment of both the principal and interests in the future/ on a later
date.

Down the road = Then/ After that/ In the future,

The difference (khoản chênh lệch) is the gap between the government expenditure and
the tax revenues.
= The tax revenues are not enough for the government expenditure
When the government needs more money to spend than the tax revenues, it can borrow
money from some different sources.
Issue (v) phát hành
An issue is an important subject that people are arguing about or discussing.
- Agents will raise the issue of prize-money for next year's world championships.
[+ of]
- Is it right for the Church to express a view on political issues?
- Nhà thờ thể hiện quan điểm về các vấn đề chính trị có đúng không?/ Liệu có đúng
không nếu nhà thờ can thiệp vào các vấn đề chính trị?
If you issue a statement or a warning, you make it known formally or publicly.
- Last night he issued a statement denying the allegations. [VERB noun]
Issue (n) all of a particular type of shares, bonds, etc. that are offered for sale together:
- Since it is the largest issue and the market is witnessing poor performance,
investors might not get value.
- We launched an exchange offer to buy back existing bonds in return for a new
issue.
Issue (v) to offer for sale (phát hành để bán) financial products = financial instruments
(công cụ tài chính) such as shares or bonds:
- issue shares/stock/bonds
- The notes are being issued to fund public infrastructure improvements.
- About $8.8 billion of debt was issued to pay dividends.
Issuance (n) the act of supplying an official document, especially a financial product:

19
 - The board approved Wednesday the issuance of revenue bonds to fund $250
million in capital improvement projects.
- He left the country this summer after the issuance of arrest warrants for him and
his deputies.

Phân biệt danh từ “issue” và “issuance”

Buyers of Treasury bonds can be the country’s citizens (American citizens), firms,
Constitute (v):
How Does the Federal Government Borrow?
To finance the debt, the U.S. Treasury sells bonds and other types of securities.
(Securities is a term for a variety of financial assets (công cụ tài chính).) Anyone can buy
a bond or other Treasury security directly from the Treasury through its website,
treasurydirect.gov, or from banks or brokers (công ty môi giới). When a person buys a
Treasury bond, she effectively loans money to the federal government in exchange for
repayment with interest at a later date.
To loan sth to sbd = to lend
Most Treasury bonds give the investor—the person who buys the bond—a pre-
determined fixed interest rate. Generally, if you buy a bond, the price you pay is less than
what the bond is worth. That means you hold onto the bond until it matures; a bond is
mature on the date at which it is worth its face value. For example, you may buy a $100
bond today and pay only $90. Then you hold it for five years, at which time it is worth
$100. You also can sell the bond before it matures.
To be worth + … : có giá trị là
- The bonds are worth 5 million US dollars.
Face value: mệnh giá

If the Federal Government Has Lots of Debt, Who Does It Owe Money To?
The federal debt is the sum of the debt held by the public—that’s the money (which is)
borrowed from regular people like you and from foreign countries (mệnh đề phân từ - sử
dụng phân từ 2) —plus the debt held by federal accounts. Debt held by federal
accounts is the amount of money that the Treasury has borrowed from itself. That may
sound funny, but recall from above that trust funds are federal tax revenues that can
only be used for certain programs. When trust fund accounts run a surplus, the Treasury
takes the surplus and uses it to pay for other kinds of federal spending. But that means
the Treasury must pay that borrowed money back to the trust fund at a later date. That
borrowed money is called “debt held by federal accounts;” that’s the money the Treasury

20
effectively lends to itself. One-third of the federal debt is debt held by federal accounts,
while two-thirds of the federal debt is held by the public.
Debt Held by the Public
Debt held by the public is the total amount the government owes to all of its creditors in
the general public. That includes Americans as well as foreign individuals and the
governments of foreign countries.
Approximately half—the largest portion—of debt held by the public is held
internationally by foreign investors and central banks of other countries who buy our
Treasury bonds as investments. In 2010, these countries included China, which held the
most ($1.1 trillion), followed by Japan ($800 billion), Middle Eastern countries ($173
billion), Russia ($168 billion), Brazil ($164 billion) and Taiwan ($152 billion).
The next largest portion is held by domestic investors, which includes regular Americans
as well as institutions like private banks. (A bank may invest some of its own assets in
Treasury bonds.) This portion constitutes over a third of the federal debt.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and state and local governments hold the remainder of
the federal debt. (The Federal Reserve's share of the federal debt is not counted as debt
held by federal accounts, because the Federal Reserve is considered independent of the
federal government. The Federal Reserve buys and sells Treasury bonds as part of its
work to control the money supply and set interest rates in the U.S. economy.)

International investors consist of:

+ governments of other countries
+ foreign private investors
+ foreign organizations
+ International financial organizations: (tổ chức tài chính quốc tế) such as IMF,
WB
IMF: International Monetary Fund – Quỹ tiền tệ quốc tê
WB – World Bank.

21
 COMPREHENSION
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS
1. What does the U.S. Treasury do when revenue from taxes is not enough to cover
all of the government’s expenditures?
2. How much is the Federal government going to collect in tax revenues in fiscal
year 2014?
3. What type of taxes contributes the largest proportion of tax revenues?
Individual income tax/
4. What are federal funds?
… are government’s revenues generated from individual income taxes, corporate
income taxes and some others. (mệnh đề phân từ - bổ nghĩa cho danh từ đi trước)
5. For what purpose are these funds used?
6. What are trust funds?
7. For what purpose are these funds used?
8. By what way does the Treasury borrow money?
9. Who does the Federal Government owe money to?
The government can borrow money from both international investors and domestic
investors. International investors who can buy the government bonds are
governments of other countries, and foreign individuals or organizations. While

22
 domestic investors can the the Central bank, local governments and citizens of the
country.

International investors and domestic investors

VOCABULARY EXERCISES
VOCABULARY EXERCISES
Exercise 2: Choose the word that best completes the sentence.
1. Government securities with terms (muturity) of more than one year are called:
A. government bonds. B. bills of exchange.
C. Treasury bills. D. capital bills.
bills of exchange (n) (now chiefly in foreign transactions) a document, usually negotiable
(= tradable = bought & sold), containing an instruction to a third party to pay a stated
sum of money at a designated future date or on demand : hối phiếu

2. Money that a government has required to be accepted in settlement of debts is:

A. currency value. B. legal tender.
C. barter money. D. commodity money.
Legal tender is money, especially a particular coin or banknote, which is officially part of
a country's currency at a particular time. Tiền pháp định
commodity money are used as a means of payment, such as gold coins, or silver coins.
Tiền hàng
Legal tender can be divided into: commodity money and token money. (tiền dấu hiệu)
Token money (n): coins or notes of the regular issue having greater face value than the
value of their metal/ paper content
Barter (n + v): If you barter goods, you exchange them for other goods, rather than
selling them for money.
- They have been bartering wheat for cotton and timber. [VERB noun + for]
- The market-place and street were crowded with those who'd come to barter.
- Barter economy: without the use of money as a means of payment

3. Which of the following activities is one of the responsibilities of the Bank of England
to the banking system?
A. Assisting banks that are in a difficult financial position.
B. Loaning money to other countries that are friendly to the UK.
C. Issuing new bonds to finance the PSBR.

23
 D. Auditing the various agencies and departments of the government. (Trách
nhiệm của Kiểm toán nhà nước)
4. The difference (chênh lệch) between a bank's actual reserves (khoản dự trữ thực tế)
and its required reserves (dự trữ bắt buộc) is its:
A. required reserve ratio. B. net worth.
C. profit margin. D. excess reserves. (dự trữ vượt định mức)
required reserve ratio: hệ số dự trữ bắt buộc
profit margin: lợi nhuận viên
not worth: giá trị thuần/ ròng

5. If the quantity of money demanded (lượng cầu về tiền) exceeds the quantity of
money supplied (lượng cung về tiền), (leading to a shortage of money – a special type of
good) then the interest rate (cost of borrowing) will:
A. change in an uncertain direction. B. fall.
C. rise. D. remain constant.
6. Which of the following events will lead to an increase in the demand for money?
A. An increase in the supply of money.
B. A decrease in the price level.
C. An increase in the level of aggregate output. (Tổng sản lượng)
D. An increase in the interest rate.
7. Which of the following events will lead to a decrease in the equilibrium interest rate?
A. A decrease in the price level.
B. An increase in the discount rate.
C. A sale of government securities by the central bank
D. An increase in the level of aggregate output.
8. The motive for holding money that encourages investors to hold bonds when interest
rates are low, with the hope of selling them when interest rates are high, is the:
A. precautionary motive. B. speculation motive.
C. profit motive. D. transactions motive.
If someone speculates financially, they buy property (bất động sản), stocks (cổ phần), or
shares, in the hope of being able to sell them again at a higher price and make a profit.
Đầu cơ
- Big farmers are moving in, in order to speculate with rising land prices. [VERB
preposition/adverb]
- The banks speculated in property whose value has now dropped.
Speculation (n) investment involving high risk but also the possibility of high profits
Motive (n): Your motive for doing something is your reason for doing it.: động cơ

24
 - Police have ruled out robbery as a motive for the killing. [+ for]
- ...the motives and objectives of British foreign policy.
- The doctor's motive was to bring an end to his patient's suffering.

9. The opportunity cost of holding money is determined by:

A. the inflation rate. B. the interest rate.
C. the discount rate. D. the level of aggregate output.
The discount rate is the rate of interest that the central bank of a country charges on the
loans that it makes to other banks.
[mainly US]
- The Federal Reserve has cut the discount rate five times in 12 months.
10. The demand for money represents the idea that there is:
A. a positive relationship (quan hệ tỷ lệ thuận) between the interest rate and the quantity
of money demanded.
B. a negative relationship between the price level and the quantity of money demanded.
C. a negative relationship between the level of aggregate output and the quantity of
money demanded.
D. a negative relationship (quan hệ tỷ lệ nghịch) between the interest rate and the
quantity of money demanded.

interest rate = cost/ price of borrowing money.

Price of a good increase => its demand will reduce, and vice versa.

LANGUAGE FOCUS

READING 2

Public debt (n) is/ means/ refers to (US) the total financial obligations incurred by all
governmental bodies of a nation = national debt
Public spending (n): is/ means/ refers to expenditure by central government, local
authorities (chính quyền địa phương), and public enterprises (doanh nghiệp nhà nước)

Transfer Payments (usually plural): money received by an individual or family from the
state or other body, often a pension or unemployment benefit. It is not reckoned when
calculating the national income as (because) it is money transferred rather than (không
phải là) paid for merchandise or a service rendered.

25
If something is reckoned to be a particular figure, it is calculated to be roughly that
amount. Tính toán/ ghi nhận
- The star's surface temperature is reckoned to be minus (âm) 75 degrees Celsius.
[be VERB-ed to-infinitive]
- A proportion of the research, which I reckoned at about 30 percent, was basic
research.
Thanh toán chuyển giao hay trợ cấp thu nhập (transfer payments or income support) là
khoản tiền chính phủ chi ra, nhưng không nhận lại hàng hóa hay dịch vụ tương ứng.
Trong phần lớn trường hợp, những khoản tiền như thế liên quan đến sự chuyển giao thu
nhập từ một nhóm người này (người nộp thuế) cho những nhóm người khác dưới hình
thức phúc lợi xã hội, chẳng hạn trợ cấp thất nghiệp, trợ cấp xã hội hoặc tiền hưu trí cho
người già.

Vì trợ cấp thu nhập không được thực hiện để đổi lấy hàng hóa và dịch vụ, tức không làm
tăng tổng sản lượng, nên chúng không được đưa vào các tài khoản thu nhập quốc gia -
một hệ thống phản ánh giá trị bằng tiền của sản lượng quốc dân - với tư cách thu nhập
của nhân tố sản xuất.

(Tài liệu tham khảo: Nguyễn Văn Ngọc, Từ điển Kinh tế học, Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân)

Trợ cấp thu nhập là một quy trình được chính phủ sử dụng như một cách để phân phối lại
tiền thông qua các chương trình như trợ cấp tuổi già, trợ cấp tàn tật, trợ cấp sinh viên và
bồi thường thất nghiệp. Tuy nhiên, các khoản thanh toán chuyển giao không bao gồm các
khoản trợ cấp được trả cho nông dân, nhà sản xuất và xuất khẩu trong nước, mặc dù về
mặt kỹ thuật, chúng là khoản thanh toán một chiều cho một người do chính phủ thực
hiện. Thanh toán chuyển giao của chính phủ, mặc dù không có dịch vụ nào được thực
hiện nhưng vẫn được coi là một thành phần của thu nhập cá nhân.

social security system: chương trình an sinh xã hội

allowance (n) tiền trợ cấp
Working Families Tax Credit (in Britain) is a means-tested allowance paid to single
parents (bố mẹ đơn thân) or families who have at least one dependent child (có ít nhất
một con ăn theo/ phụ thuộc – phải nuôi ít nhất 1 đứa con), who work at least 16 hours per
week, and whose earnings = income (thu nhập) are low. Trợ cấp hộ gia đình đơn thân
theo tiêu chuẩn.

26
Means-tested (adj): measured using or given according to a means test (= a test of how
much income a person has)
- means-tested benefits (trợ cấp theo tiêu chuẩn
- The means-tested grants of £5 to £40 are paid weekly.
Housing Benefit: In Britain, housing benefit is money that the government gives to
people with no income or very low incomes to pay for part or all of their rent. Trợ cấp
tiền thuê nhà.
Income Support: In Britain, income support is money that the government gives
regularly to people with no income or very low incomes.
People on income support do not have to pay council tax.

Government spending
Government spending (or public spending in Britain), takes up over 45% of GDP.
Spending by the public sector can be broken down into three main areas:
• Transfer Payments: Thanh toán chuyển giao (chi phúc lợi xã hội)
These are welfare payments made available through the social security system including
the Jobseekers’ Allowance, Child Benefit, State Pension, Student Grants, Housing
Benefit, Income Support and the Working Families Tax Credit
The main aim of transfer payments is to provide a basic floor of income (thu nhập tối
thiểu) or minimum standard of living (mức sống) for low income households (hộ gia
đình). And they allow the government to change the final distribution of income. In
2010-11 the UK government spent £196bn on welfare benefits, equivalent to (tương
đương) 13.4% of GDP

Tra từ điển:
- Social welfare: phúc lợi xã hội
- Jobseekers’ Allowance: Tiền hỗ trợ/ trợ cấp cho người tìm việc
- Child Benefit: Trợ cấp cho trẻ em
- State Pension: lương hưu
- Student Grants: trợ cấp cho sinh viên

• Current Government Spending (chi thường xuyên): i.e. spending on state-

provided goods & services that are provided on a recurrent basis - for example salaries
paid to people working in the NHS and resources for state education (giáo dục công) and
defense (quốc phòng). The NHS is the country’s biggest employer (cơ quan) with over
one million people working within the system!

27
State employees: cán bộ công nhân viên chức nhà nước

Current Government Spending

NHS is an abbreviation of National Health Service. Sở y tế (hệ thống y tế cộng đồng)
- This vaccine is not normally provided free under the NHS.
- ...NHS patients.
Capital Spending
HM is the written abbreviation for Her or His Majesty or Her or His Majesty's. It is used
as part of the name of some British government organizations, or as part of a person's
title.

• Capital Spending (chi cơ bản): Capital spending includes infrastructure

spending (chi cho cơ sở hạ tầng) such as new motorways, roads, hospitals, schools and
prisons. This investment spending adds to the economy’s capital stock and can have
important demand and supply side effects in the long term.
The main items of UK government spending are shown in the pie chart below- the data is
taken from the March 2011 UK Budget Statement available from the HM Treasury
website.

Social protection is the biggest single component of departmental spending and includes
the many welfare benefits paid to recipients including the state pension, the jobseekers’
allowance, income support and housing benefit.

1. British Government’s expenditure normally accounts for ……………..

A. nearly a half of its GDP B. over a half of its GDP
C. below 45% of its GDP D. most of its GDP
2. Which is not included in the social security system?
A. unemployment benefit B. child benefit
C. pension for retired people D. workers’ allowance
3. The transfer payment aims at ………………………
A. paying more income for low income state employees
B. promoting the economic growth rate.
C. accelerating the equality of the income.
D. increasing the living standard.
4. Which of the following expenses is NOT included in current government spending?
A. salaries for state employees B. spending on public education
C. expenses on state defense D. service industry

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5. What does “NHS” in line ……… stand for?
A. North High School B. National Health Service
C. National Historic Site D. Niels Husted And Son
6. Which of the following statements is not “True” about Capital Spending?
A. Capital spending includes the capital used to construct infrastructure.
B. Capital expenditure is spending on national assets.
C. Capital expenditure has short-term effects on the economy.
D. Capital expenditure has a lasting impact on the economy and helps provide a
more efficient and productive economy.
7. What did the UK spend the most on in the fiscal year 2011-2012?
A. Education B. Health C. Social protection D. Other
8. What did the UK spend the least on in the fiscal year 2011-2012?
A. Housing and Environment B. Industry, agriculture and employment
C. Public Order and Safety D. Personal social service
1–A 2–D 3–C 4–D 5–B 6–C 7–C 8–B

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