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The Spiker Gazette |
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Oxford, WV
Volume 2
Issue 3 March
8, 2008 |
| Submitted by:
Bobbi Spiker-Conley |
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This month's edition of the Spiker Gazette is being published a
little later than usual. For one, I was struggling with
our feature article. Our regular reporters have been under
the weather and I have been at a loss thinking of something to
contribute on my own. (Cue to the rest of the family...I'm
in need of something for the April edition too.)
On top of that, like everyone else, my schedule is a busy one.
There are all these tasks that are fighting for my immediate
attention. One of the most dreaded is the preparation of
our income tax forms. That chore started a new
conversation in my head..."I wonder how our grandparents dealt
with the tax man."
I still don't know the answer to that question but I did find
some interesting information about the history of the Federal
Income Tax and thought I'd share it with you.
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Copied
From: The Tax History Museum, “1901-1932: The Income Tax
Arrives” http://www.tax.org/Museum/1901-1932.htm
While fiscal reformers fought for
the ratification of a new constitutional amendment to authorize
federal income taxes, Speaker of the Virginia House of
Delegates, Richard E. Byrd, made a plea to reject it.
(He wrote) "A hand from
Washington will be stretched out and placed upon every man’s
business; the eye of the Federal inspector will be in every
man’s counting house . . . The law will of necessity have
inquisitorial features, it will provide penalties, it will
create complicated machinery. Under it men will be hailed into
courts distant from their homes. Heavy fines imposed by distant
and unfamiliar tribunals will constantly menace the tax payer.
An army of Federal inspectors, spies and detectives will descend
upon the state . . . Who of us who have had knowledge of the
doings of the Federal officials in the Internal Revenue service
can be blind to what will follow? I do not hesitate to say that
the adoption of this amendment will be such a surrender to
imperialism that has not been since the Northern states in their
blindness forced the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments upon
the entire sisterhood of the Commonwealth."
Opposition from Byrd and
like-minded conservatives couldn’t stop the amendment. To the
surprise of many, the states ratified the amendment and in
February 1913, it became the Sixteenth Amendment to the
Constitution.
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The new income tax provided for
collection “at source”, meaning that some kinds of income would be
taxed before it reached the taxpayer (as with our current system
of tax withholding). The Bureau of Internal Revenue established a
Personal Income Tax Division to collect the new tax. It included
a Correspondence Unit of 30 employees dedicated solely to
answering questions about the new levy.
In 1914, the BIR unveiled its form
for the new income tax. Four pages long, it was dubbed Form 1040
as part of the agency’s normal sequential numbering process. No
money was collected during the first year. Instead, taxpayers
returned just a completed form, which was then checked by field
agents for accuracy.
In 1915, several congressmen
complained that income tax forms are too complicated. The House
Sergeant at Arms offered lawmakers assistance in preparing their
own returns. As one congressman explained the complexity: "I write
a law. You drill a hole in it. I plug the whole. You drill a hole
in my plug."
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Click here to
view a copy of the 1040 Tax Form of 1913. Notice that it
is four pages long -- INCLUDING instructions. The 2007
instruction booklet, without forms, is 293 pages long!!!
For additional reading, check out these tax
history links:
History of the U.S. Tax System
History of the U.S. Income Tax
Brief History of the IRS
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Announcements
Submitted by Bobbi Spiker-Conley: Willa
Dean Spiker is improving at home and no longer requires 24-hour care.
She hates being confined and "feeling like an invalid", noting that she
has always maintained the role of number one family caregiver. We
tell her it's now her turn to to be waited on.
Part of her frustration stems from the fact that others in her family have
been experiencing medical problems as well. Mother wishes she could
take care of them. However, in her weakened state, it's simply too
risky for her. From her children to her grandchildren to her
great-grandchildren, it seems like EVERYONE has been ill at some time or
other over the past couple months.
Currently, Dean's great-grandson (Cathy's grandson, Shelly's son) is still
in the hospital after two weeks of fighting pneumonia and staff infection
in his lungs. Mother says, "He's a very sick little boy". We
are all hoping that he will be discharged from the hospital sometime next
week after which he will spend several more weeks recovering at home.
Submitted by Bobbi Spiker-Conley: Haley
Conley is moving again -- moving out and moving up! The current
housing crisis has actually worked in her favor. She will be saving
hundreds of dollars a month, moving next week from her overpriced
apartment to a very nice house in an area considered "the fourth best
place to live in Florida". And just a few weeks after that, Haley
will be moving up in the world as she graduates from
Florida Gulf Coast University on April
27. Gary, his parents and I will be attending the ceremony and
taking advantage of Haley's hosting skills at her new home.
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We are looking for contributors to The Spiker Gazette.
Please send your newsy tidbits to our staff for insertion in future
editions. |
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