Re: A taxing issue

Bob Greene wrote:
Not for me to revolt , after all it is my choice of occupation


You're with the IRS? ;-)

bernie









On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:19:18 -0500, "btorvik2" <btorvik2@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

Income Tax



The Income Tax: Then and Now

As the dreaded April 15 approaches, it's worth remembering that the
income tax, which is now mind-boggingly complex and afflicts vast
numbers of Americans, originally was extremely simple and was
intended to tax only the very wealthiest citizens.

There were only four pages in the original 1913 1040 form: a
one-page 1040 form, two pages of worksheets, and one page of
instructions.

Today, just the instructions for the 1040 runs... 175 pages.

You can see the original 4-page form here, courtesy of the Tax
Foundation.

And what about tax rates? Economist Mark J. Perry of the free-market
blog Carpe Diem tells us:

"Individual income tax rates started at 1% in 1913, and the maximum
marginal income tax rate was only 6% on incomes above $500,000 ($11
million in today's dollars). The personal exemption was $3,000 for
individuals ($66,000 in today's dollars) and $4,000 for married
couples ($87,500 in today's dollars)..."

This means, of course, that almost no one in America was expected to
have to pay the federal income tax -- since the average income in
1913 was only about $750.

How things have changed. Tax revolt, anyone?



bernie


--
"Official ASC Shaman"


.

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