Bert Dirschell
Centertown
Dear Editor:
In the late 1800s, tariffs just weren’t bringing in enough money to suit politicians, they had to find a new source of income.
In 1894, Grover Cleveland and a Congress controlled by Democrats passed an income tax bill; the Supreme Court rejected it as unconstitutional. Democrats and several “progressive” Republicans continued to push for an income tax. Republicans wanted to put an end to the concept. In 1909, Republicans passed a bill starting the process of approving, or refusing, a Constitutional Amendment authorizing an income tax. They thought the people would reject the amendment, thus ending debate on the issue. They were wrong, the idea of making the “rich” provide us with “free stuff” was as popular then as it is today. Since then we have been saddled with the 16th Amendment, a tax on income.
The following dollar figures have been adjusted to 2018 dollars, unless noted.
The income tax started as a tax on the rich. The rates started at 1 percent on incomes between $76,000 and $500,000. The rates were progressive. They topped out at 7 percent on income above $15 million. With the imposition of income taxes (which were paid by few), tariffs (which were paid by many) were reduced dramatically. When politicians realized that only a very small voting block were paying income tax, they ran amok. By 1917, rates had increased dramatically to 2 percent on $20,000-40,000 incomes, the top rate was 67 percent on incomes over $40 million.
From 1915-26, federal revenues averaged 10 times more than they did during the 12 preceding years. The increases noted pale when compared to what happened after the start of Johnson’s mid-60’s War on Poverty. Check out the revenue/outlay versus time graph at stats.areppim.com/stats/stats_usxbudget_history.htm
From 1959-65 the poverty rate in the U.S. dropped from 22.4 percent to 15.1 percent, then Johnson’s War on Poverty started. Since then, more than $20 trillion has been spent on poverty programs. The poverty rate was 12.3 percent in 2017.
For those who think they don’t pay enough taxes please get out your checkbook and send a donation to either the Missouri Department of Revenue or the IRS.