Sixteenth Amendment Ratified: Income Tax Becomes Law
The Sixteenth Amendment, ratified on February 3, 1913, granted Congress the explicit power to levy income taxes without apportioning them among the states based on population. This overturned the Supreme Court's 1895 decision in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., which had struck down a federal income tax as unconstitutional. The amendment was the culmination of decades of populist agitation against a tax system that relied heavily on tariffs and excise taxes, which fell disproportionately on consumers and farmers. The first income tax under the new amendment imposed a one percent rate on incomes over ,000, affecting roughly three percent of the population. Within five years, World War I pushed the top marginal rate to 77 percent. The amendment permanently transformed the federal government's fiscal capacity, enabling the massive expansion of domestic programs and military spending that defined the twentieth century.
February 3, 1913
113 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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