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

No honest man can make war upon great fortunes per se. The Democratic Party never has done it; and when the Democratic Party begins to do it, it will cease to be the Democratic Party and become the socialistic party of the United States; or better expressed, the communistic party, or quasi communistic party, of the United States.

-
Democrat Senator John Sharp Williams (D-MI).
08/27/1913 | Full Details | Law(s): Tax: Income

The bottom line is the unions bought the election. It's going to be a sadder day as more businesses leave the state and more don't want to come here.

-
State Republican Chairman Bob Tiernan.

…your economic program is a job killer. Your tax increases on the energy in this country will affect people from the automobile to the schoolhouse to the grocery shelves.

-
Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), Congressional Record.

[The Court must] bring the Congress back to a true sense of the limitations of its powers….[such a tax on wealth will lead to] communism, anarchy, and then, the ever following despotism.

-
George F. Edmunds, former Republican senator from Vermont. March 7, 1895.
03/07/1895 | Full Details | Law(s): Tax: Income

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.