Who first introduced income tax?

Arpeggionist

Genesis 48 includes a story of how Joseph, son of Jacob and now viceroy of Egypt, institutes an income tax over the land during the years of famine. The tax that Joseph has the state collecting is 20% of the citizens' assets (land and livestock), a tax from which the priests were exempt. Dec 24 06, 8:57 AM

davejacobs

That sounds like a tax on assets rather than on income, doesn't it? Dec 24 06, 10:33 AM

Arpeggionist

It was on both. Dec 24 06, 3:48 PM

star_gazer

In modern times the income tax in the US, which our Constitution prohibits, was put into effect during the Lincoln administration to help pay for the Civil war. Dec 25 06, 8:25 AM

zbeckabee

Genesis 47:20 -- "So Joseph got all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh; for every Egyptian gave up his land in exchange for food, because of their great need; so all the land became Pharaoh's." No mention of Income Tax. http://lifestrategies.thingseternal.com/bible-in-basic-english/B01C047.htm The concept of taxing income is a modern innovation and presupposes several things: a money economy, reasonably accurate accounts, a common understanding of receipts, expenses and profits, and an orderly society with reliable records. A true income tax was first implemented in Britain by William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_Tax Dec 25 06, 11:31 AM

snowdaemon

Well, both ancient Greeks and Romans had income taxes. Athens established income taxes after Solon's reforms and in Rome the taxes (which were charged on as well as in Athens after an estratified base) were levied after the institution of the republican classes. In Athens the tax base were the wheat crops... Dec 25 06, 4:07 PM