Tax Law Timeline
Important Dates in Tax Reform History
1862 — President Abraham Lincoln signs into law a revenue-raising measure to help pay for Civil War expenses. The measure creates a Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the Nation’s first income tax. It levies a 3 percent tax on incomes between $600 and $10,000 and a 5 percent tax on incomes of more than $10,000. The income tax is repealed in 1872. 1867 — Heeding public opposition to the income tax, Congress cuts the tax rate. From 1868 until 1913, 90 percent of all revenue comes from taxes on liquor, beer, wine, and tobacco. 1894 — The Wilson Tariff Act…
