Taxes: Income

Taxes: Income

The income tax has been the primary means of funding the federal government since 1913 when the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted. It is a progressive tax on individual and corporate income, based on income levels.  43 states impose an income tax on individuals, while 47 states impose a tax on the income of corporations. Many municipalities and counties also levy income taxes on their residents.

Commentary

Chamber of Commerce, Wrong Again

May 19, 2011
Taxes and the wealthy

Will Higher Taxes on the Rich Kill Jobs?

December 01, 2010

Cry Wolf Quotes

The simple fact is the Clinton plan will not lower interest rates. It will not lower inflation. It will not create jobs. And it will not lower the deficit. The Clinton tax plan will spur inflation, lose jobs, increase the deficit, and hurt our economic growth. As most economists now agree, the Clinton plan must go.

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Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA), Congressional Record.

The present assault upon capital is but the beginning. It will be but the stepping stone to others, larger and more sweeping, till our political contests will become a war of the poor against the rich; a war constantly growing in intensity and bitterness.

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Justice Stephen Field, concurs with the majority opinion against the income tax.
05/20/1894 | Full Details | Law(s): Tax: Income

It's disappointing and discouraging. The tone and tenor was often venomous, trying to pit the haves against the have-nots…[the business community now must figure out] how to participate in a system that's largely disconnected from us.

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Pat McCormick, spokesman for Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes, The Oregonian.

[We have] High unemployment because small businesses, people who make $250,000 a year, are not spending and investing and it will get worse if we don’t extend those tax cuts.

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Sean Hannity, Fox News' Hannity.

Evidence

Backgrounders & Briefs

Taxes Not Seen as Making the Rich Flee New York

Almost everyone agrees that raising taxes on the rich does not induce mass upper-class migration. 

Resources

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is a think tank focused on tax and fiscal policy. They provide in-depth analysis of state issues.

Citizens for Tax Justice is an organization that represents low and middle income citizens in the tax debates on Capitol Hill.