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The history of taxation in the United States begins with the colonial protest against British taxation policy in the 1760s, leading to the American Revolution. The independent nation collected taxes on imports ( "tariffs" ), whiskey , and (for a while) on glass windows.
In order to help pay for its war effort in the American Civil War, the United States government imposed its first personal income tax, on August 5, 1861, as part of the Revenue Act of 1861. Tax rates were 3% on income exceeding $600 and less than $10,000, and 5% on income exceeding $10,000. [8]
The power to levy taxes and tariffs, when proposed by the United States House of Representatives, was granted to the federal government by the United States Constitution after it came into effect in 1789. The new government needed a way to collect taxes from all the states that was easy to enforce and had only a nominal cost to the average citizen.
The United States Constitution, adopted in 1787, authorized the federal government to lay and collect taxes, but required that some types of tax revenues be given to the states in proportion to population. Tariffs were the principal federal tax through the 1800s.
Federal, State, and Local income tax as a percent GDP Federal income, payroll, and tariff tax history Taxes revenue by source chart history US Capital Gains Taxes history In 1913, the top tax rate was 7% on incomes above $500,000 (equivalent to $15.9 million [ 96 ] in 2024 dollars) and a total of $28.3 million was collected.
Linda Upham-Bornstein's "Mr. Taxpayer versus Mr. Tax Spender" delivers an evenhanded view of American tax resistance movements.
In United States tax law, there is a distinction between an estate tax and an inheritance tax: the former taxes the personal representatives of the deceased, while the latter taxes the beneficiaries of the estate. However, this distinction does not apply in other jurisdictions; for example, if using this terminology UK inheritance tax would be ...
George S. Boutwell was the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue under President Abraham Lincoln.. In July 1862, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln and Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1862, creating the office of commissioner of internal revenue and enacting a temporary income tax to pay war expenses.