Much of the government was once financed by excise taxes, tariffs, and land sales to settlers. The first Income Tax was levied to pay for the Civil War. The revenue was pretty good and there were those that wanted to continue it, the result was the 16th Amendment, shortly before WWI. The highest rate during WWI was 77%. During WWII we kicked Japan's and Germany's asses with a 94% marginal rate (20.7% effective rate) for the wealthiest American's.
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