We Americans truly are idiots.
Posted on 02/10/2013 7:11:21 AM PST by Kaslin
This week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 16th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which made it legal for the U.S. federal government to impose taxes upon the income earned by Americans. Since income tax season in the United States has officially begun, we thought we'd mark the occasion by revisiting our original Form 1040 tool, where you can find out how much of the money you earned last year would have been taken from you by Uncle Sam back in 1913!
Back then, of course, you would only have had until the first of March to pay up - but then, income taxes were a lot less complicated back then, which is one reason why the federal government now gives you until the 15th of April each year to pay up, or else....
| IRS Form 1040, Circa 1913 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Return of Net Income Received or Accrued During the Year Ended December 31, 191_ | ||
| 1. Gross Income (see page 2, line 12) | ||
| 2. General Deductions (see page 3, line 7) | ||
| 3. Net Income | ||
| Deductions and exemptions allowed in computing income subject to the normal tax of 1 per cent. | ||
| 4. Dividends and net earnings received or accrued, of corporations, etc., subject to like tax. (See page 2, line 11) | ||
| 5. Amount of income on which the normal tax has been deducted and withheld at the source. (See page 2, line 9, column A) | ||
| 6. Specific exemption of $3000 or $4000, as the case may be. (See Instructions 3 and 19) | ||
| Total deductions and exemptions (Items 4, 5, and 6) | ||
| 7. Taxable Income on which the normal tax of 1 per cent is to be calculated. (See Instruction 3) | ||
| 8. When the net income shown above on line 3 exceeds $20,000, the additional tax thereon must be calculated as per schedule below: | ||
| INCOME | TAX | |
| 1 per cent on amount over $20,000 and not exceeding $50,000 | ||
| 2 per cent on amount over $50,000 and not exceeding $75,000 | ||
| 3 per cent on amount over $75,000 and not exceeding $100,000 | ||
| 4 per cent on amount over $100,000 and not exceeding $250,000 | ||
| 5 per cent on amount over $250,000 and not exceeding $500,000 | ||
| 6 per cent on amount over $500,000 | ||
| Total additional or super tax | ||
| Total normal tax (1 per cent of amount entered on line 7) | ||
| Total tax liability | ||
3. The normal tax of 1 per cent shall be assessed on the total net income less the specific excemption of $3,000 or $4,000 as the case may be. (For the year 1913, the specific exemption allowable is $2,500, or $3,333.33, as the case may be.) If, however, the normal tax has been deducted and withheld on any part of the income at the source, or if any part of the income is received as dividends upon the stock or from the net earnings of any corporation, etc., which is taxable upon its net income, such income shall be deducted from the individual's total net income for the purpose of calculating the amount of income on which the individual is liable for the normal tax of 1 per cent by virtue of this return.
19. An unmarried individual or a married individual not living with wife or husband shall be allowed an exemption of $3,000. When husband and wife live together they shall be allowed jointly a total exemption of only $4,000 on their aggregate income. They may make a joint return, both subscribing thereto, or if they have separate incomes, they may make separate returns; but in no case shall they jointly claim more than $4,000 exemption on their aggregate income.
Speaking of complexity, if we go by the CCH Standard Federal Tax Reporter, it takes 73,954 regular 8-1/2" x 11" pages in 2013 to explain the U.S. federal tax code.
Meanwhile, the mortgage interest deduction has always been with us! And so has the itemized deduction for all state and local taxes paid by taxpayers, but not the deduction for charitable contributions, which was added to the tax code in 1917 - just as income tax rates were being jacked up to pay for World War I.
Finally, the people least likely to be paying their fair share of income taxes in the United States live in households with incomes below $67,530. Coincidentally, that's where over half of the income available to be taxed is to be found in the United States. Just in case you ever wondered why President Obama was so happy to let his emergency 2% payroll tax cut expire on New Years Day of 2013....
Yiiipppeee!! Where’s the fireworks?? The celebration of 100 years of bondage. We need to pay some taxes for roads, border patrol and national defense, but giving F-16s to some ME country?? No way. Entitlements instead of jobs generation after generation, huh uh. Nope. Extremely large debts are the same as chains on a nation.
The tax forms are so numerous and varied and COMPLICATED now that even the IRS doesn’t know what they mean or how to fill them out. Every year taxes are calculated by different IRS “Experts” and different results are generated. That in itself speaks to the stupidity of the existing code. Even GOD only suggested 10 percent.
It is hard for me to decide which amendment was worse, the 16th or the 17th. Somedays I think it is the 16th then the 17th. It is a tough call. Like trying to decide if death by firing squad is preferable to hanging.
We Americans truly are idiots.
Perhaps you should consider that the 16th was not properly ratified by a sufficient number of States and was instead ‘deemed passed’ by lame duck Secretary of State Philander Knox. To me that makes it the clear turning point onto the road to serfdom.
Once the Constitution becomes followed by pretense only, there is no possible recovery short of conquest from without or revolution from within. It may take another hundred years or more ( I think a lot sooner) but a fall is coming.
It makes one wonder how we got through our first 137 years without an onerous income tax sucking up the fruits of our labor.
See tagline.
You are absolutely correct. Facts and truth don’t seem to matter any more.
Excellent
I’m afraid we’re already there. Can you point me to anything that hasn’t been built on a pretense?
It would be interesting to see those 1913 figures adjusted to reflect 2013 dollars.
I believe to this day that the sinking of the Titanic with all those shakers & movers on board & the passage of income tax were not unrelated.
No, the loss of the ship was an accident! But forces oppposed to the federal income tax saw their ranks thinned of many men of influence who might have affected the outcome.
And the 16th Amendment was NOT formally ratified!!?
As soon as somebody makes a time machine, I’m going back and strangling every congresscritter who voted for that mess in their cribs.
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