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The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1913.

NARA

During the Civil War the United States enacted an income tax that remained in effect from 1862 to 1872. The minimum rate in the 1862 law was 3 percent on income above a personal exemption of $600; the maximum rate was 5 percent on income above $10,000. Subsequent amendments raised the maximum rate to 10 percent on incomes over $5,000. An income tax was again enacted in 1894, after President Grover Cleveland had been elected on a platform that promised lower tariffs and other reforms sought by the farmers in the West and South. This law was, however, held to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, which forced its backers to seek an amendment to the Constitution that would give Congress the right to impose income taxes without apportionment among the states. In 1913 the 16th Amendment was ratified, and a new individual income tax with rates ranging from 1 to 7 percent on income in excess of $3,000 for a single individual was voted by Congress shortly thereafter. At the end of World War II, the lowest marginal rate was 23 percent and the maximum rate was 94 percent; the exemption for a single individual was only $500. Most states also have individual income taxes. To simplify compliance and administration, many states use a definition of taxable income that closely resembles the federal definition.

The European and U.S. income tax systems and the recommendations of advisers from those areas have strongly influenced the systems established by new and developing countries, especially former colonies, as well as systems such as Japan’s that underwent major reform in the 20th century. For example, the quotient system of individual allowances and the shareholder credit system of integrating the individual and corporate income taxes, respectively, have been popular in former French and British colonies, and the income tax of the United States and American advisers have been instrumental in shaping the income taxes of Latin American countries. Japan’s present tax system, developed in the early 1950s, is primarily based upon proposals made by a commission headed by American economist Carl S. Shoup.

Additional factors affecting the tax systems of developing countries include experience with inflation and other economic conditions and the particular attitudes and goals of the individual country. As a means of offsetting the effects of inflation, some Latin American countries introduced an adjustment into the measurement of income from business and capital. This practice is often called “indexing for inflation.” Reflecting a greater propensity to use governmental intervention to achieve economic objectives, many less-developed countries employ far-reaching tax incentives in the effort to spur investments conducive to economic development.

Attention has already been called to several types of variations found in the income tax practices of different countries, mainly those relating to the determination of taxable income. Something should now be said about variations in rate structures. The important variants in these structures are (1) the starting point and levels of first-bracket rates, (2) the top bracket or maximum marginal rates, and (3) the income range within which rates rise from the lowest to the highest levels.

In some countries starting rates are low. The lower the starting rate and the narrower the lowest income brackets, the more progressive an income tax is likely to be at low and medium income levels.

During war emergencies high marginal tax rates on individual income are viewed as a necessary complement to wage and price controls, but their value in a peacetime tax structure has been questioned. When they cannot be avoided, such high rates weaken work and risk-taking incentives, and they yield little revenue. Some people believe that a better individual income tax would offer fewer exclusions and deductions, with generally lower rates. During the 1980s this view prevailed in many countries, and an era of tax reform saw tax rates fall dramatically; for example, in the United States the top marginal rate was reduced from 70 percent in 1980 to 33 percent in 1987. (The rate paid at the very top of the income scale was actually reduced to only 28 percent.) In 1993 the top marginal rate became 39.6 percent. Whereas in the mid-20th century most top-bracket rates would be found ranging between 55 and 75 percent, top rates between 30 and 60 percent are becoming increasingly common.