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4meAndyou · F
"President Taft didn’t actually invent the idea of a federal income tax. That would be Abraham Lincoln, who in 1861 convinced Congress to pass the Revenue Act and impose a temporary 3 percent tax on incomes over $800, as an emergency measure to help finance the massive military expenditures required by the Civil War. That measure was allowed to expire in 1872.
The idea of a federal income tax resurfaced after the Panic of 1893, an economic downturn so severe that it caused a quarter of the nation’s labor force to lose their jobs. As Jeffrey Rosen notes in his 2018 biography of Taft, populist Democrats argued that the tariffs and excise taxes that the government depended upon for revenue put a disproportionate burden upon struggling farmers and workers, and argued for a tax that would capture more of affluent Americans’ income.
In 1894, they joined forces with progressive Republicans to pass legislation that created a 2 percent tax on incomes over $4,000, along with reduced tariffs. But that tax didn’t last long. In an 1895 case, Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, the Supreme Court found that directly taxing Americans’ income was unconstitutional."
https://www.history.com/news/income-tax-howard-taft
We did not ALWAYS have to pay an income tax. However, once the pigs of government got a taste of our money, they could NOT let it go.
Please note that the very first income tax was 3% on incomes of over $4000.
In modern times, most of us pay 35% of our income in taxes...and the rich pay up to 52%.
The idea of a federal income tax resurfaced after the Panic of 1893, an economic downturn so severe that it caused a quarter of the nation’s labor force to lose their jobs. As Jeffrey Rosen notes in his 2018 biography of Taft, populist Democrats argued that the tariffs and excise taxes that the government depended upon for revenue put a disproportionate burden upon struggling farmers and workers, and argued for a tax that would capture more of affluent Americans’ income.
In 1894, they joined forces with progressive Republicans to pass legislation that created a 2 percent tax on incomes over $4,000, along with reduced tariffs. But that tax didn’t last long. In an 1895 case, Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, the Supreme Court found that directly taxing Americans’ income was unconstitutional."
https://www.history.com/news/income-tax-howard-taft
We did not ALWAYS have to pay an income tax. However, once the pigs of government got a taste of our money, they could NOT let it go.
Please note that the very first income tax was 3% on incomes of over $4000.
In modern times, most of us pay 35% of our income in taxes...and the rich pay up to 52%.