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Philosophos
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 Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject: Historical Total US Tax Burden |
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Does anybody know of a good source for historical data on the total tax burden for US citizens in the 19th century? I'm curious to get some numbers that take into account state and federal taxes together that would allow for at least somewhat reasonable comparision to today's standards.
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Knight_of_BAAWA
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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www.justfuckinggoogleit.com
I've just always wanted to do that
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Philosophos
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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I have, and haven't found much.
And I dunt liek u nomore.
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not_a_theist
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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Oh the love tension is unbearable in here!
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Gettin' In Tune
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Philosophos
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, but I've gotten stuff that far back. I'm looking for more 19th century stuff.
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Knight_of_BAAWA
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Philosophos wrote: | I have, and haven't found much.
And I dunt liek u nomore. |
NO U!
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aa #51, DNRC o-, Member of the [H]orde
Atheist Minister for St. Dogbert.
"No being is so important that he can usurp the rights of another"
Picard to Data/Graves "The Schizoid Man" |
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Gettin' In Tune
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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19th century, eh? Congress passed the first income tax law in 1862 to support the Civil War. History of the Income Tax. The 16th Amendment was not ratified until 1913.
You might have to examine each state's historical tax records for more information on 19th century taxes.
Last edited by Gettin' In Tune on Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mr_C
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Knight_of_BAAWA wrote: | www.justfuckinggoogleit.com
I've just always wanted to do that |
I LOL'd.
Philosophos,
You may want to try This Link instead. |
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Philosophos
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Mr_C wrote: | Philosophos,
You may want to try This Link instead. |
Your setup for delivery needs work, twatwaffle. I rolled over the link without clicking on it.
Keep your day job. 
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Last edited by Philosophos on Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:26 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Philosophos
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Gettin' In Tune wrote: | 19th century, eh? Congress passed the first income tax law in 1862 to support the Civil. History of the Income Tax. The 16th Amendment was not ratified until 1913.
You might have to examine each state's historical tax records for more information on 19th century taxes. |
Yeah - I was afraid of that. But even then I'd have to come up with a reasonable measure in order to compare tax burden then and now (percent of avg income? Percent of total govt. income... on average per state or not? Etc. etc.)
I was hoping someone more competant than I already had such info available.
I appreciate your input.
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ChrissyFos
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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The lulz have expired.
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Gettin' In Tune
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Mr_C wrote: | | You may want to try This Link instead. |
That was fucking hilarious.
Philo,
In the early 18th century, Americans paid less taxes relatively. "Tariffs were the largest source of federal revenue from the 1790s to the eve of World War I, until it was surpassed by income taxes". Wiki
I am not sure if Wiki is accurate on the years. At the moment, I am too lazy right to dig deeper. By reducing tariffs, the government had to rely more on the income tax for a source of revenue. I am deducing that Americans are paying more in income taxes now (as a percentage) than they did historically. We are also reaping the benefits of increased trade and cheaper goods due to the mitigation of tariffs. There is a tradeoff. |
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Philosophos
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Gettin' In Tune wrote: | In the early 18th century, Americans paid less taxes relatively. "Tariffs were the largest source of federal revenue from the 1790s to the eve of World War I, until it was surpassed by income taxes". Wiki
I am not sure if Wiki is accurate on the years. At the moment, I am too lazy right to dig deeper. By reducing tariffs, the government had to rely more on the income tax for a source of revenue. I am deducing that Americans are paying more in income taxes now (as a percentage) than they did historically. We are also reaping the benefits of increased trade and cheaper goods due to the mitigation of tariffs. There is a tradeoff. |
All true. But I read at a biased site (I believe it was the non-libertarian FAQ) that the states taxed fairly heavily pre-1913, even while the Federal government did not. As their sources were not cited, I was curious whether the tax burden imposed by the states was substantial.
If I were to take a guess, I'd be pretty certain that there's no way that the total tax burden was as substantial as what it is today. But that would only be what I stated it to be: a guess. Thus, I'm interested in how the total tax burden compares over time. I'd be willing to run such a measure against some other aggregate, say GDP, to get the variance accounted for by tax burden over time, but I'm afraid I'm too lazy to do a full-fledged analysis of total tax burden on my own. I'm sure the raw data are available, but I was looking for a more distilled form.
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Gettin' In Tune
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| Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Philosophos wrote: | | But I read at a biased site (I believe it was the non-libertarian FAQ) that the states taxed fairly heavily pre-1913, even while the Federal government did not. As their sources were not cited, I was curious whether the tax burden imposed by the states was substantial. |
I don't know, but a red flag goes up. Did states receive the same amount of federal funding back then? "The federal budget provides nearly 30% of state revenue, making it the largest single source of funds for many states" Source. Again, I am being lazy and not looking into this claim. Just throwing the idea out.
| Quote: | | If I were to take a guess, I'd be pretty certain that there's no way that the total tax burden was as substantial as what it is today. But that would only be what I stated it to be: a guess. Thus, I'm interested in how the total tax burden compares over time. |
Interesting, but I am not sure what it would prove besides the fact that people paid less taxes.
| Quote: | | I'd be willing to run such a measure against some other aggregate, say GDP, to get the variance accounted for by tax burden over time, but I'm afraid I'm too lazy to do a full-fledged analysis of total tax burden on my own. I'm sure the raw data are available, but I was looking for a more distilled form. |
I can easily plug the data into STATA and run a regression analysis, but what is the hypothesis? |
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