Wednesday, April 15, 2009

US Tax Forms From 1913 to 2008

This is an interesting slice of history for financial historians. The Tax Deadline for 1913 was actually March 1st and not April 15th. I wish we could go back to the taxes paid in 1913 as well. If you make over $250,000 a year you only had to pay 5% of your income and not the 39.6 percent that Obama wants.

Most people would fall into a 1% tax rate if they made from $20,000 to $50,000 in 1913. Imagine how much spending there would be if people only had to pay the government 1% of their money in taxes. Also the 1913 deductions were awesome. I wouldn't mind seeing Obama as Woodrow Wilson (and not JFK, Lincoln, LBJ, whomever) if he enacted these gems:

1. The amount of necessary expenses actually paid in carrying on business, but not including business expenses of partnerships, and not including personal, living, or family expenses

2. All interest paid within the year on personal indebtedness of taxpayer

3. All national, State, county, school, and municipal taxes paid within the year (not including those assessed against local benefits)

4. Losses actually sustained during the year incurred in trade or arising from fires, storms, or shipwreck, and not compensated for by insurance or otherwise

5. Debts due which have been actually ascertained to be worthless and which have been chargedoff within the year

6. Amount representing a reasonable allowance for the exhaustion, wear, and tear of property arising out of its use or employment in the business, not to exceed, in the case of mines, 5 per cent of the gross value at the mine of the output for the year for which the computationis made, but no deduction shall be made for any amount of expense of restoring property or making good the exhaustion thereof, for which an allowance is or has been made

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