100 years of the income tax Sunday, February 3, is the 100th
anniversary of the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment,
which makes it the one hundredth birthday of the income tax. It
has grown rather ill-tempered in its dotage. Americans for Tax
Reform commemorated the occasion by publishing a few fun facts
about the income tax. Among other interesting statistics, the
initial top tax bracket was only 7 percent, and it didn’t kick
in until income reached a whopping $11.6 million in 2013
dollars. Only 358,000 people had to fill out 1040 forms at
first, because the standard family deduction was an adjusted
$93,000. Over the past hundred years, the tax code has swelled
from 400 pages to almost 74,000. The top rate is 39.6 percent;
add in state and local taxes, and you’ve got the government
soaking up over half of every marginal dollar earned by the Evil
Rich. And the top bracket crashes down on those who earn over
$450k, which is the new functional definition of a
“millionaire.” Every new tax – from the income