MarketNeutral
23rd April 2010, 10:13 AM
1773: Boston Tea Party
On the night of Dec. 18, members of a secret organization called the Sons of Liberty, led by brew master Samuel Adams, disguised themselves as Indians and dumped 90,000 pounds of tea belonging to the East India Trading Co. into the Boston Harbor. The act was done in protest of the company’s monopoly on the tea trade, which, thanks to tax subsidies provided by the British government, was able to undercut local tea importers’ prices. The event is known for infuriating King George III like never before.
1794: Whiskey Rebellion
Having assumed the debt from the American Revolution, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton pushed a tax on whiskey distillers to raise money and to situate the newly created federal government as a force to be reckoned with. In practice, the tax levied a heavier fee on small distillers while taking it easy on larger ones. Vehement opposition to the tax spawned a diffuse resistance in Pennsylvania, Washington and what is now West Virginia that at its most violent saw a tax collector tarred and feathered.
1798: Fries Rebellion
A property tax to fund the expansion of the Army and Navy for an undeclared war with France peeved auctioneer John Fries, who in response launched a rebellion in Pennsylvania. Fries and a band of 60 or so German farmers roved the state, bullying tax assessors and encouraging residents in their own acts of opposition. The insurrection ended after a face-off between Fries’ band and local authorities at an inn, where the town marshal was holding a few rebels prisoner. Fries got his men back but was arrested shortly thereafter and found guilty of treason.
1862: Tax Act of 1862
The Lincoln administration put in place the country’s first progressive income tax (an attempt a year earlier to tax income at a flat rate didn’t exactly take), the revenue of which was primarily used to finance the Civil War. The tax was widely viewed as an emergency measure and was repealed within a decade.
1879: Progress and Poverty
Journalist and economist Henry George published Progress and Poverty, which, put simply, conceived of a single land tax for private property and inspired a mini-“single tax†movement, hinged on the lofty ideal of social equality. George’s model was designed to raise employment rates by incentivizing landowners to hire help since they wouldn’t have to pay a labor or production tax. The book sold 3 million copies shortly after it was released—a considerable amount, as the population of the United States at that time was a mere 50 million people.
1904: Bureau of Internal Revenue Created
The Bureau of Internal Revenue, which would later become the Internal Revenue Service in 1953 to emphasize its “service†aspect, was created under the secretary of finance. It had about 70 employees. In comparison, the IRS now employs about 1,900 at the national office, 115,000 in total, making it the largest federal bureaucracy.
1913: 16th Amendment Ratified
With the passage of the 16th Amendment, Congress was given authority to tax on income. The average income that year was $1,296, and tax rates were between 1 percent and 6 percent. In five years, the highest tax rate would reach 77 percent.
1914: Form 1040 Introduced
The Bureau of Internal Revenue distributed Form 1040 for the first time; however, no money was collected during the first year. Instead, taxpayers simply returned the completed form to be checked for accuracy. In 1920, only 5.5 million returns, or 5 percent of the total population, showed any tax due.
The remaining slide show is here: http://www.thebigmoney.com/slideshow/tax-slideshow
I only posted 8 of the 21 slides.
On the night of Dec. 18, members of a secret organization called the Sons of Liberty, led by brew master Samuel Adams, disguised themselves as Indians and dumped 90,000 pounds of tea belonging to the East India Trading Co. into the Boston Harbor. The act was done in protest of the company’s monopoly on the tea trade, which, thanks to tax subsidies provided by the British government, was able to undercut local tea importers’ prices. The event is known for infuriating King George III like never before.
1794: Whiskey Rebellion
Having assumed the debt from the American Revolution, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton pushed a tax on whiskey distillers to raise money and to situate the newly created federal government as a force to be reckoned with. In practice, the tax levied a heavier fee on small distillers while taking it easy on larger ones. Vehement opposition to the tax spawned a diffuse resistance in Pennsylvania, Washington and what is now West Virginia that at its most violent saw a tax collector tarred and feathered.
1798: Fries Rebellion
A property tax to fund the expansion of the Army and Navy for an undeclared war with France peeved auctioneer John Fries, who in response launched a rebellion in Pennsylvania. Fries and a band of 60 or so German farmers roved the state, bullying tax assessors and encouraging residents in their own acts of opposition. The insurrection ended after a face-off between Fries’ band and local authorities at an inn, where the town marshal was holding a few rebels prisoner. Fries got his men back but was arrested shortly thereafter and found guilty of treason.
1862: Tax Act of 1862
The Lincoln administration put in place the country’s first progressive income tax (an attempt a year earlier to tax income at a flat rate didn’t exactly take), the revenue of which was primarily used to finance the Civil War. The tax was widely viewed as an emergency measure and was repealed within a decade.
1879: Progress and Poverty
Journalist and economist Henry George published Progress and Poverty, which, put simply, conceived of a single land tax for private property and inspired a mini-“single tax†movement, hinged on the lofty ideal of social equality. George’s model was designed to raise employment rates by incentivizing landowners to hire help since they wouldn’t have to pay a labor or production tax. The book sold 3 million copies shortly after it was released—a considerable amount, as the population of the United States at that time was a mere 50 million people.
1904: Bureau of Internal Revenue Created
The Bureau of Internal Revenue, which would later become the Internal Revenue Service in 1953 to emphasize its “service†aspect, was created under the secretary of finance. It had about 70 employees. In comparison, the IRS now employs about 1,900 at the national office, 115,000 in total, making it the largest federal bureaucracy.
1913: 16th Amendment Ratified
With the passage of the 16th Amendment, Congress was given authority to tax on income. The average income that year was $1,296, and tax rates were between 1 percent and 6 percent. In five years, the highest tax rate would reach 77 percent.
1914: Form 1040 Introduced
The Bureau of Internal Revenue distributed Form 1040 for the first time; however, no money was collected during the first year. Instead, taxpayers simply returned the completed form to be checked for accuracy. In 1920, only 5.5 million returns, or 5 percent of the total population, showed any tax due.
The remaining slide show is here: http://www.thebigmoney.com/slideshow/tax-slideshow
I only posted 8 of the 21 slides.