Excise tax also know as excise duty, is a type of special tax that is charged on the so-called ‘luxury items’; the items which cannot be afforded by poor families. These ‘luxury items’ include cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline. This is also referred as sin tax and may consist of a flat amount for a certain quantity of the item purchased. However, in US excise tax refers to any tax other than capitation or property tax or it is also termed as excise in statutory law sense.
The beginning of the excise tax goes back in 1794. This was done under Alexander Hamilton's tax package and since then the tax has been opposed and fought. But the main intention to charge excise tax is to raise revenue and to discourage a particular behavior. This is justified on both the grounds by the fact that these taxes are levied on alcohol, fuel, tobacco.
Capital gains tax is incurred on all the profits resulting from the sales of assets such as stocks, bonds and property. This is probably the tax which the corporations or individuals pay on the net total of the capital gains. This is just similar to the income tax paid on other sorts of income. The money coming from this tax is provided to entrepreneurs and to investors making capital investments.