🇺🇸 THE TAX THAT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO SPREAD—BUT DID The Revenue Act of 1913 was sold as a narrow, high-bracket tax aimed at the rich—just 2% of households would pay. Yet within five years, wartime pressure turned that top rate from 7% to 77%. The original promise? Low rates, limited reach. The reality sadly was a federal lever grew quite fast. Politicians who passed it later expanded it. The exemption shrank, the complexity ballooned, and regional resentment flared. The rich Northeast bore the brunt, sparking cries of class legislation. A century later, nostalgia for that “simple” tax misses the point: once created, the income tax was always designed to grow. Original intent didn’t stop political convenience. Source: TaxNotes

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