Tax Day wasn't always April 15

Tax Day Was Not Always April 15

Taxpayers in the United States are very aware of one date on the calendar: April 15. It is the day when most of us have to pay our income taxes. (I'll ignore the extension given this year to some residents in the northeastern states who have been victims of the storms and flooding that began March 12.) However, April 15th has not always been the filing deadline. March 1st was the date specified by Congress in 1913. In 1918 Congress pushed the date out to March 15th, where it remained until the tax overhaul of 1954, when the date was moved to April 15th.

Going back further in time, many of our ancestors never heard of an income tax. The first U.S. income tax was created during the Civil War, when Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861 which included a tax on personal incomes to help pay war expenses. The tax was repealed ten years later.

Can you imagine today's income taxes being repealed?

In 1894 Congress enacted a flat rate Federal income tax, which was ruled unconstitutional the following year by the U.S. Supreme Court because it was a direct tax, not apportioned according to the population of each state.

The 16th amendment, ratified in 1913, removed this objection by allowing the Federal government to tax the income of individuals without regard to the population of each state. United States residents have been saddled with an income tax ever since.

You can read more at "History of the U.S. Tax System" at http://www.treas.gov/education/fact-sheets/taxes/ustax.shtml