The Interesting History of Income Tax

"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1873 - The Civil War ended, emergency over, Income Tax Repealed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)