A taxing anniversary

One hundred fifty years ago today, the United States imposed its first-ever personal income tax.  The nation had gotten along just fine for "four score and five years" (i.e. 85) without one.  So what changed?

The South, from which the Federal government derived much of its revenue via hated tariffs on agricultural exports (mainly cotton), had chosen to go their own way.  In order to raise a "Grand Army of the Republic" to subdue those States, Lincoln needed money... lots of it.

On this day in 1861, Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Strapped for cash with which to pursue the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress agreed to impose a 3 percent tax on annual incomes over $800.  ... According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the comparable minimum taxable income in 2003, after adjustments for inflation, would have been approximately $16,000.

Never mind that the Constitution expressly forbade such a direct tax (referred to as "capitation") -- part of the designed protection against the tendency to centralize power.  This was merely one more impediment for the Great Emancipator to overlook as he suspended habeus corpus and generally did whatever was expedient to force back into the Union a population that no longer provided their consent to be governed.

Remember each year when you file your taxes, you can thank 'Honest' Abe for paving the way.  And if the draft is ever reactivated, you can thank Lincoln's War for that little precedent as well...

I'll say it again: the Civil War may have resulted in freeing the slaves of that time, but only by placing us ALL in bondage to Uncle Sam.