- Individual American colonies collected taxes on various items such as proceeds from auctions, tobacco, written letters and official documents, but not on personal income.
- The first official federal income tax law was passed in 1862 to create steady revenue for Civil War expenses. The act was repealed 10 years later.
- A second income tax was enacted Congress in 1894, but the Supreme Court disagreed with the premise of a federal flat-rate tax, ruling it unconstitutional in 1895.
- The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, officially ratified in 1913, gave Congress the right to collect income taxes.
- The first 1040 tax form was issued for the 1913 tax year. The tax rate required citizens making more than $3,000 to pay 1 percent of their income to the federal government. Anyone making over $500,000 paid an additional 6 percent "surtax."
- Congress enacted the withholding tax during World War II. Quarterly tax payments were also first collected during this time.
