Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
Taxation
HOW A NATION BORN OUT OF A TAX REVOLT has, and especially hasn’t, solved the problems of taxing its citizens
Whenever I begin the research for one of these columns, I am gratefully surprised to find that what I recall as a simple story turns up new questions and insights, as if I were unfolding an unsuspectedly intricate and lovely paper cutout.
75 years ago, Americans paid their first income tax. And liked it.
On the evening of March 1, 1914, Americans all around the nation inaugurated what has become a spring ritual for millions of us.
Where Is Henry George Now That We Need Him?
He had the answer—he believed it, and he persuaded millions of others to believe it, too.
When Constable Samuel Staples of Concord, Massachusetts, placed Henry David Thoreau under arrest for nonpayment of his state poll tax in late July of 1846, he had no idea that his act would bring about international repercussions a century later.
… and grew, and grew, and grew …
Sixty years ago the permanent individual income tax, with escalation built into its table of rates, came on gently and quietly, by no means ignored, yet not the object of any great furor, either.
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