…our Congress brought forth upon this country the first federal income tax*, dedicated to the proposition that it was temporary, and they might never need to collect it anyway, but we needed to win the Civil War.
Happy tax weekend y’all!
–sutton
(*thinking the original 3% on annual household income over $800 is sounding pretty good right about now)
It was actually only a $600 exemption by the time the first return was filed in 1864 and even then, Congress couldn’t be relied upon…
“As it is not impossible that certain changes in the rates of income tax may be adopted by the present Congress, the rate to which any income is liable cannot now be stated. The proposed changes, however, will not affect the principles upon which the return is to be made.”
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040–1864.pdf
Ira