People don't realize that when the Income Tax was first proposed it was predicated on the idea that most Americans would not end up paying it. As you can imagine, it was only for 'the rich' to pay.
The first tax bracket was a measly 1% on income over $3,000 at the time, which WolframAlpha says is about $80,500 today.
EDIT: I needed to correct myself, according to the IRS "Congress adopted a 1 percent tax on net personal income of more than $3,000 with a surtax of 6 percent on incomes of more than $500,000."
The first tax bracket was a measly 1% on income over $3,000 at the time, which WolframAlpha says is about $80,500 today.
https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%243%2C001+in+1913+USD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_State...
EDIT: I needed to correct myself, according to the IRS "Congress adopted a 1 percent tax on net personal income of more than $3,000 with a surtax of 6 percent on incomes of more than $500,000."
Thank you to alecst for correcting me.