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Welcome to the Tax History Project, a public service initiative from Tax Analysts. Established in 1995, the Project provides scholars, policymakers, journalists, and the general public with information on the history of U.S. public finance. Please take a look at our features, send us your comments, and sign up for our free newsletter.
New Book on "War and Taxes": Read the Introduction
On May 6, the Urban Institute Press will release "War and Taxes," a new book exploring the history of American wartime finance. The authors -- Steven A. Bank and Kirk J. Stark of the UCLA School of Law, and Joseph J. Thorndike of Tax Analysts -- explore the nation's powerful tradition of homefront sacrifice. But they also warn against any temptation to mythologize the nation's fiscal history. Earlier generations accepted heavy new taxes as the price of freedom and security. But they often resisted and complained about those taxes, too. Politicians of the past -- like their successors today -- made room for self-indulgence amid the sacrifice. Tax Analysts has published the introduction to the book. [Read More] Taxes, Trade, and the British Taste for Beer
Whatever happened to tariffs? For more than a century, they provided the bulk of federal revenue in the United States. They fueled the sectional tension that dominated politics before and after the Civil War. And ultimately, they -- and their regressive incidence -- helped drive the movement for a permanent federal income tax. For much of the nation's history, taxes and tariffs were inseparable -- two elements in the same political dynamic. [Read More] Clinton, McCain, and Obama Tax Returns Now Available
As part of its Presidential Tax Return feature, the Tax History Project has published tax materials released by the remaining 2008 presidential candidates: Sens. Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama. [Read More] Private Returns, Public Rewards: The Politics of Tax Records
Two weeks ago, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., released his tax returns and challenged Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., to do the same. Clinton, whose personal tax records from her years as first lady are already public, promised to release more recent filings sometime during this filing season. (Clinton released her tax returns after this article was submitted for publication. For coverage, see Doc 2008-7564 [PDF] or 2008 TNT 67-4 .) Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. -- who has released none of his tax returns to date -- has promised that he, too, will release something soon.
Media comment has focused on the Clinton foot-dragging (and, to a lesser extent, on McCain's delay). But the fracas has obscured a more fundamental question: Should we care? [Read More] New Documents: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Tax Returns, 1913-1937
The Tax History Project has expanded its collection of presidential tax returns to include all of Franklin Roosevelt's returns from 1913 to 1937. These represent all returns available from the Roosevelt presidential library in Hyde Park, NY. [Read More] Profiles in Tax History: Roswell Magill
Roswell Foster Magill was an unlikely New Dealer. He came from a Midwestern family of impeccable Republican pedigree. He made his first venture into politics as a Treasury Department lawyer for the arch Republican tax cutter, Andrew Mellon. His father was a prominent and vociferous opponent of the New Deal, including its tax policies. And he finished his career as a leading critic of the progressive tax regime that he helped create during the 1930s.
But Magill was indisputably one of the most important tax officials of the 1930s. His influence on the New Deal's signature tax measures, including the Wealth Tax Act of 1935 and the Undistributed Profits Tax of 1936, was relatively modest. But he played a vital -- and ultimately more lasting -- role in shaping plans for fundamental tax reform. Under his guidance and supervision, the Treasury Department developed a program that would eventually transform the income tax from a narrow levy on the rich to a broad-based tax on middle-income taxpayers. [Read More]
Regular Features
Tax History Museum
A virtual museum of American tax history.
The Price of Civilization
An in-depth study of American taxation during the Great Depression and World War II.
Presidential Tax Returns
Copies of the tax returns filed by various American presidents, including Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush.
Taxing Federalism
Selected readings from the Federalist Papers, including every major discussion of the Constitution's power to tax.
Image Gallery
Cartoons, posters, and other images from the history of U.S. taxation.
Readings in Tax History
Research, analysis, and commentary on tax history and contemporary tax debates.
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