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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the United States government agency that collects taxes and enforces the tax laws. It is a part of the Department of the Treasury.For its first 138 years ( 1776- 1913), the United States did not have a standing federal income tax. Most government revenue was collected from excise taxes on products, import/export taxes, and revenue tax es on items such as photographs, bank checks, stock certificates, wills, deeds, and other legal documents. Several short-term income taxes were levied in the late 19th Century, some of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. In 1913 the Sixteenth AmendmentAmendment XVI (the Sixteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, authorizing income taxes in their present form, was ratified on February 3, 1913. It states: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source to the Constitution removed restrictions on income tax revenue, clearing the way for the income tax to become a permanent institution. The agency created to enforce these taxes was named the internal revenue service in contrast to U.S. government institutions that collected external revenue through duties and tariffs.
See also: Taxation in the United StatesThis article is a brief overview of some aspects of US taxes. Overview Taxation in the United States may involve payments to at least four different levels of government: local government (possibly including one or more of municipal, township, district an
1 Further reading
- Davis, Shelley L., and Mary Matalin. Unbridled Power: Inside the Secret Culture of the IRS. New York: Harper Collins, (BooksEnthsiast.com)
- Johnston, David CayDavid Cay Johnston is an investigative journalist for The New York Times now focusing on taxes. He received the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting "for his penetrating and enterprising reporting that exposed loopholes and inequities in the U. tax code. Perfectly LegalPerfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich and Cheat Everybody Else (BooksEnthsiast.com) is a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter David Cay Johnston that argues that the American tax system has bee: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich - and Cheat Everybody Else. New York: Portfolio, 2003. (BooksEnthsiast.com)
- Roth, William V., Jr.William Victor Roth, Jr. July 22, 1921 December 13, 2003) was a United States Representative and five-term Senator from Delaware. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the House from 1967 to 1970 and in the Senate from 1971 to 2001. Born in Great, and William H. Nixon. The Power to Destroy. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999. (BooksEnthsiast.com)
2 External links
U.S. Dept. of the Treasury
Taxation in the United StatesThis article is a brief overview of some aspects of US taxes. Overview Taxation in the United States may involve payments to at least four different levels of government: local government (possibly including one or more of municipal, township, district an
