Foreword
The modern U.S. tax system has its roots in the Civil War. In 1862, when it became clear that the war would not end soon and that the Federal Government would need additional revenues to fund the effort, Congress passed, and President Abraham Lincoln signed, the Internal Revenue Act. The law imposed a temporary flat tax of 3 percent on annual incomes between $600 and $10,000 and a 5 percent tax on those higher than that. It also created what would later become the Internal Revenue Service. In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution legalized Federal taxation, and Congress…
