The Interesting History of Income Tax – Bill Federer
“The only things certain are death and taxes” – Benjamin Franklin Yet few know America’s interesting history of Income Tax, such as:
1787 – U.S. Constitution prohibited a “direct” Federal tax
1862 – “Revenue Tax” on incomes went into effect as an emergency to finance the Union during the Civil War
1873 – The Civil War ended, emergency over, Income Tax Repealed
1895 – The Supreme Court made Income Tax unconstitutional
1913 – Woodrow Wilson thought tariffs on imports caused wars, so he worked to replace them with an Income Tax. Income Tax was originally only a 1% tax on the top 1% richest people in America.
1943 – Paycheck Withholding began as an emergency effort to get funds to finance WWII.
John F. Kennedy – “Lower rates of taxation will stimulate economic activity and so raise the levels of personal and corporate income as to yield within a few years an increased flow of revenues to the Federal Government.” (Annual Budget Message, Jan. 17, 1963)
Thomas Jefferson – “It is an encouragement to proceed as we have begun in substituting economy for taxation” (2nd Annual Message, 1802)
