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Income Tax Trivia
For most of our history, we didn't have an income tax. The Supreme Court said that the tax was unconstitutional. When the income tax amendment was passed in 1913, its supporters claimed that only the rich would pay the tax.
During the first World War, tax rates were pushed up to 77 percent. They stayed there until the late 1920s. The same thing happened after World War II. Wartime tax rates were as high as 94 percent, and incredibly the top rate stayed above 90 percent for 20 years after the way.
Presidents Kennedy and Reagan gave us significant tax relief. But after reaching a post-war low of 28 percent, the top tax rate, thanks to Bush and Clinton, is now back to 40 percent. Today's bottom tax rate -- 15 percent -- is
more than double the rate paid by the rich in 1913.
Today, the median income family -- mom, dad, two children -- pays more than $5,000 in income taxes, or more than 14 percent of its income. When you include Social Security, Medicare, sales and other taxes, about 40 cents of every dollar goes to the government.
When the income tax first took effect it had 170 pages of laws and regulations. Today, the tax code has 17,000 pages, along with hundreds of thousands of pages of court decisions. The 1986 tax act was aimed at simplification. It ended up amending 2,000 sections of the code and creating more than 100 new forms.
The IRS has 114,000 employees. That's equal to the population of Peoria, Illinois. It is twice as big as the CIA and five times the size of the FBI. IRS employment has increased 20 percent over the past 10 years. The rest of
the government shrank by 10 percent over that same period.
Tax Day is on April 15 each year because it allows the IRS more time to handle the work and also gives the government more time to offer taxpayers' refunds. This day was decided upon in 1955 after several changes over the years. It only changes if Tax Day falls on a weekend or holiday, and then Tax Day will be on the following business day.
The country's first income tax law came into existence in 1862. Due to the gigantic expense of the Civil War, a person earning between $600 to $10,000 paid a yearly tax rate of 3%; those that made more were taxed higher.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue was formed in 1862 to assess and collect taxes as well as enforce tax laws by seizing property and income and using prosecution as punishment. In 1953, the Bureau of Interal Revenue became the Internal Revenue Service, or as we call it, the IRS.
There are over 7 million words in tax law and regulations. That beats the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address combined.
Almost 300,000 trees are cut down each year to make the paper for all the forms and instructions relating to taxes.
Tax Freedom Day is the one day that the country as a whole has earned enough income to fund its annual tax burden.
Executives work an average 57 hours a week, but just 22 percent say their hours are a major cause of stress.
They who are of the opinion that Money will do everything, may very well be suspected to do everything for Money.
~ George Savile
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