Thursday, March 27, 2008

1913 Income Taxes

From its beginnings in 1913, the income tax system was designed to be progressive; the more you make, the more you pay. The top bracket then was 7%, and it applied only to those who earned above $500,000 a year, which is about $10.6 million in today's dollars. Congress also recognized that some were too poor to pay taxes, so it exempted the first $3,000 in income. In 1913 that exclusion liberated all but 1% of the population from taxes.

from CNN

Accounting for inflation, the first $65,000 would need to be exempted.

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