Date: Friday, September 19, 2008
Time: 11 PM
Place: Kitchen
President Abraham
Lincoln (Republican) signed a Civil War income tax in
1861, which was abandoned a decade later.
Prior to 1913, the vast majority of tax dollars collected by
the federal government came from taxes levied on
goods, such as liquor, tobacco, and imports. Today, personal
income taxes, including Social Security taxes,
account for about 85 percent of federal government
revenue.
In 1913, the forms, instructions, and clarifications for the
entire federal tax system would have filled just one small,
three-ring binder! (And we’re not even sure that threering
binders existed back then.) Those were, indeed, the
good old days. Since then, thanks to endless revisions,
enhancements, and simplifications, the federal tax
laws — along with the IRS and court clarifications of
those laws — can (and should) fill several dump trucks.
Since World War II, the size of the federal tax code has
swelled by more than 400 percent! And, according to the
Tax Foundation — a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy
research organization — complying with the tax laws
costs everyone more than $265 billion annually.
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