US_Internal_Revenue_Service

United States government branch that collects taxes and

enforces the tax laws.

For its first 138 years (1776-1913), the United States did not

have an income tax. All government taxes were collected as excise taxs on products, import/export taxs, and revenue taxes on items such as photographs, bank checks, stock certificates, wills, deeds, and other legal documents.

The UnitedStatesConstitution/AmendmentSixteen was ratified in 1913 and allowed for the creation of an income tax.

The first income tax only taxed the very very wealthy as it started with income over $??? at a tax rate of ? percent.

$??? is $??? in 2000 dollars.

The income tax was incrementally expanded by the US congress and now applies to almost 2/3 of the population. The lowest earning workers ($20,000 in 2000) pay no income taxes as a group and actually get a small subsidy from the federal government because of child credits and the earned income credit.

The upper 25 percent of wage earners (incomes over $50,000 in 2000) pay most of the income tax.