Income tax in the United States

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The federal government of the United States imposes a progressive tax on the taxable income of individuals, corporations, trusts, decedents' estates, and certain bankruptcy estates. Some state and municipal governments also impose income taxes. The first Federal income tax was imposed (under Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution) during the Civil War, then again in the 1890s, and again after the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified in 1913. Current income taxes are imposed under these constitutional provisions and various sections of Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, including 26 U.S.C. § 1 (imposing income tax on the taxable income of individuals, estates and trusts) and 26 U.S.C. § 11 (imposing income tax on the taxable income of corporations).

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[edit] Income tax basics

While U.S. tax law is very complex, the underlying idea is relatively easy to understand. Simplifying greatly, gross income is all income from all sources (§ 61) less any exclusions (§ 101 et seq.). An exclusion is something that Congress has effectively said a taxpayer need not include in his or her income for tax purposes, such as employer-paid health insurance (§ 106) or interest from tax-exempt bonds (§ 103).

For individuals, Adjusted gross income (AGI) is gross income less any above-the-line deductions (§ 62). Above-the-line deductions are listed in § 62 and include trade or business deductions, alimony (§ 215), and moving expenses (§ 217). Taxable income is AGI less (1) itemized deductions or the applicable standard deduction, whichever is greater, and (2) a deduction for any allowable personal exemptions for the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse (if filing jointly), and the taxpayer's dependents. (In certain cases involving higher income taxpayers, the allowed personal exemptions may be reduced or even eliminated.)

Non-itemizers take the standard deduction. Itemized deductions include any deduction not listed in § 62 such as charitable contributions (§ 170) and certain medical expenses (§ 213). Taxable income is then multiplied by the appropriate tax rate to arrive at the tax due. Tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (§ 32) or the Child Tax Credit (§ 24) lower the tax owed on a dollar-for-dollar basis. This means tax credits are more valuable than deductions because deductions are applied before the tax rate while credits are applied after. For instance, with a 35% tax rate, a deduction of $100 would save only $35 of taxes while a $100 credit would save $100 worth of taxes.

[edit] Types of income

For tax purposes, income can be divided in a variety of ways. The first division is between ordinary income and capital gains. Ordinary income includes sources such as salary and wages while capital gain generally comes from the sale of investment property. Congress has typically shown a preference for long-term investment by having a capital gains tax rate lower than the ordinary income rate. However, only long-term capital gains get preferential treatment; short-term capital gains (from property held for one year or less) are taxed at the same rate as ordinary income. Added complications come from various distinctions within each category. For instance, qualified dividends, which were previously taxed at ordinary income rates (as non qualified dividends currently are), are currently taxed at long-term capital gain rates until 2011 under the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, and within long-term capital gains, gains on certain real estate, collectibles, and small business stock each have their own tax rates. The rules for offsetting capital losses with gains (whether capital or ordinary) add further complications. In ordinary usage, when someone speaks of their "tax rate", they typically are referring to their marginal tax rate for ordinary income.

Another important distinction in types of income is income from passive activities versus non-passive activities (§ 469), an attempt to curb tax shelters used by taxpayers not directly involved with an activity other than as an investor ("passive").

[edit] Year 2006 income brackets and tax rates

An individual's marginal income tax bracket depends upon their income and their tax-filing classification. As of 2006, there are six tax brackets for ordinary income (ranging from 10% to 35%) and four classifications: single, married filing jointly (or qualified widow or widower), married filing separately, and head of household.

Marginal Tax Rate Single Married Filing Jointly or Qualified Widow(er) Married Filing Separately Head of Household
10% $0 – $7,550 $0 – $15,100 $0 – $7,550 $0 – $10,750
15% $7,551 – $30,650 $15,101 – $61,300 $7,551 – $30,650 $10,751 – $41,050
25% $30,651 – $74,200 $61,301 – $123,700 $30,651 – $61,850 $41,051 – $106,000
28% $74,201 – $154,800 $123,701 – $188,450 $61,851 – $94,225 $106,001 – $171,650
33% $154,801 – $336,550 $188,451 – $336,550 $94,226 – $168,275 $171,651 – $336,550
35% $336,551+ $336,551+ $168,276+ $336,551+

An individual pays tax at a given bracket only for each dollar within that bracket's range. For example, a single taxpayer who earned $10,000 in 2006 would be taxed 10% of each dollar earned from the 1st dollar to the 7,550th dollar (10% × $7,550 = $755), then 15% of each dollar earned from the 7,551st dollar to the 10,000th dollar (15% × $2,450 = $367.50), for a total of $1,122.50. Notice this amount ($1,122.50) is lower than if the individual had been taxed at 15% on the full $10,000 (for a tax of $1,500). This is because the individual's marginal rate (the percentage tax on the last dollar earned, here 15%) has no effect on the income taxed at a lower bracket (here the first $7,550 of income taxed at 10%). This ensures that every rise in a person's pre-tax salary results in an increase of their after-tax salary, contrary to the popular misconception that being bumped into a higher tax bracket reduces after-tax income.

Claiming deductions may reduce an individual's tax liability by a rate equal to the marginal tax rate of their particular tax bracket, with a corresponding reduction in returns as the individual crosses in to a lower tax bracket. For example, if an individual is able to increase the amount of their deduction by $1000 with a last-minute donation to a charitable organization, and the individual's adjusted gross income is $500 in to the 25% marginal tax bracket, the donation will reduce the tax liability of the individual by ($500 × 25%) + ($500 × 15%) = $200.

Short-term capital gains are taxed as ordinary income rates as listed above. Long-term capital gains have lower rates corresponding to an individual’s marginal ordinary income tax rate, with special rates for a variety of capital goods.

Ordinary Income Rate Long-term Capital Gain Rate Short-term Capital Gain Rate Long-term Gain on Real Estate Long-term Gain on Collectibles Long-term Gain on Certain Small Business Stock
10% 5% 10% 10% 10% 10%
15% 5% 15% 15% 15% 15%
25% 15% 25% 25% 25% 25%
28% 15% 28% 25% 28% 28%
33% 15% 33% 25% 28% 28%
35% 15% 35% 25% 28% 28%

[edit] Example of a tax computation

Income tax:

  • $40,000 (adjusted gross income)
    • $7,550 × 0.10 = $755
    • ($30,650 - $7,550) × 0.15 = $3,465
    • ($40,000 - $30,650) × 0.25 = $2,337.50
  • Total income tax = $6,557.50 (16.39% of income)

Note that in addition to income tax, a wage earner would also have to pay FICA (payroll) tax (and an equal amount of FICA tax must be paid by the employer):

  • $40,000 (adjusted gross income)
    • $40,000 × 0.062 = $2,480 (Social Security portion)
    • $40,000 × 0.0145 = $580 (Medicare portion)
  • Total FICA tax = $3,060 (7.65% of income)
  • Total federal tax of individual = $9,617.50 (24.04% of income)

[edit] Legal history

Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution (the "Taxing and Spending Clause"), specifies Congress's power to impose "Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises," but Article I, Section 9 requires that, "Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States."

In addition, the Constitution specifically limited Congress' ability to impose direct taxes, by requiring it to distribute direct taxes in proportion to each state's census population. It was thought that head taxes and property taxes (slaves could be taxed as either or both) were likely to be abused, and that they bore no relation to the activities in which the federal government had a legitimate interest. The fourth clause of section 9 therefore specifies that, "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken."

The courts have generally held that direct taxes are limited to taxes on people (variously called "capitation", "poll tax" or "head tax") and property (Penn Mutual Indemnity Co. v. C.I.R., 227 F.2d 16, 19-20 (3rd Cir. 1960)). All other taxes are commonly referred to as "indirect taxes," because they tax an event, rather than a person or property per se. (Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548 (1937), pp.581-582) What seemed to be a straightforward limitation on the power of the legislature based on the subject of the tax proved inexact and unclear when applied to an income tax, which can be arguably viewed either as a direct or an indirect tax.

[edit] Early Federal income taxes

In order to help pay for its war effort in the American Civil War, the United States government imposed its first personal income tax, on August 5, 1861, as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872). Other income taxes followed, although an 1895 United States Supreme Court ruling, Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., held that taxes on rents from real estate, on interest income from personal property and other income from personal property (which includes dividend income) were direct taxes on property, and therefore had to be apportioned. Since apportionment of income taxes is impractical, this had the effect of prohibiting a federal tax on income from property. Due to the political difficulties of taxing individual wages without taxing income from property, a federal income tax was impractical from the time of the Pollock decision until the time of ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment (below).

[edit] Ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment

In response, Congress proposed the Sixteenth Amendment (ratified by the requisite number of states in 1913), which states:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

The Supreme Court in Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, 240 U.S. 1 (1916), indicated that the amendment did not expand the federal government's existing power to tax income (meaning profit or gain from any source) but rather removed the possibility of classifying an income tax as a direct tax on the basis of the source of the income. The Amendment removed the need for the income tax to be apportioned among the states on the basis of population. Income taxes are required, however, to abide by the law of geographical uniformity.

[edit] Modern interpretation of the power to tax incomes

The modern interpretation of the Sixteenth Amendment taxation power can be found in Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass Co. 348 U.S. 426 (1955). In that case, a taxpayer had received an award of punitive damages from a competitor, and sought to avoid paying taxes on that award. The Court observed that Congress, in imposing the income tax, had defined income to include:

gains, profits, and income derived from salaries, wages, or compensation for personal service . . . of whatever kind and in whatever form paid, or from professions, vocations, trades, businesses, commerce, or sales, or dealings in property, whether real or personal, growing out of the ownership or use of or interest in such property; also from interest, rent, dividends, securities, or the transaction of any business carried on for gain or profit, or gains or profits and income derived from any source whatever.

348 U.S. at 429. The Court held that "this language was used by Congress to exert in this field the full measure of its taxing power", id., and that "the Court has given a liberal construction to this broad phraseology in recognition of the intention of Congress to tax all gains except those specifically exempted." Id. at 430.

The Court then enunciated what is now understood by Congress and the Courts to be the definition of taxable income, "instances of undeniable accessions to wealth, clearly realized, and over which the taxpayers have complete dominion." Id. at 431. The defendant in that case suggested that a 1954 rewording of the tax code had limited the income that could be taxed, a position which the Court resoundingly rejected, stating:

The definition of gross income has been simplified, but no effect upon its present broad scope was intended. Certainly punitive damages cannot reasonably be classified as gifts, nor do they come under any other exemption provision in the Code. We would do violence to the plain meaning of the statute and restrict a clear legislative attempt to bring the taxing power to bear upon all receipts constitutionally taxable were we to say that the payments in question here are not gross income.

Id. at 432-33. Tax statutes passed after the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 are sometimes referred to as the "modern" tax statutes. Hundreds of Congressional acts have been passed since 1913, as well as several codifications (i.e., topical reorganizations) of the statutes (see Codification).

Central Illinois Public Service Co. v. United States, 435 U.S. 21 (1978), confirmed that wages and income are not identical as far as taxes on income are concerned, because income not only includes wages, but any other gains as well. The Court in that case noted that in enacting taxation legislation, Congress "chose not to return to the inclusive language of the Tariff Act of 1913, but, specifically, 'in the interest of simplicity and ease of administration,' confined the obligation to withhold [income taxes] to 'salaries, wages, and other forms of compensation for personal services'" and that "committee reports ... stated consistently that 'wages' meant remuneration 'if paid for services performed by an employee for his employer'". Id. at 27.

Other courts have noted this distinction in upholding the taxation not only of wages, but also of personal gain derived from other sources - but there are limitations to the reach of income taxation. For example, in Conner v. United States, 303 F. Supp. 1187 (S.D. Tex. 1969), aff’d in part and rev’d in part, 439 F.2d 974 (5th Cir. 1971), a couple had lost their home to a fire, and had received compensation for their loss from the insurance company, partly in the form of hotel costs reimbursed. The court acknowledged the authority of the IRS to assess taxes on all forms of payment, but did not permit taxation on the compensation provided by the insurance company, because unlike a wage or a sale of goods at a profit, this was not a gain. As the Court noted, "Congress has taxed income, not compensation".

[edit] Tax rates in history

[edit] History of top rates

  • In 1913 the tax rate was 1% on taxable net income above $3,000 ($4,000 for married couples), less deductions and exemptions. It rose to a rate of 7% on incomes above $500,000.
  • During World War I the top rate rose to 77%; after the war, the top rate was scaled down to a low of 25%.
  • During the Great Depression and World War II, the top income tax rate rose again. In the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, the top rate was 75%. The top rate reached 94% during the war and remained at 91% until 1964.
  • In 1964 the top rate was decreased to 70% (1964 Revenue Act), then to 50% in 1981 (Economic Recovery Tax Act or ERTA).
  • The Tax Reform Act of 1986 reduced the top rate to 28%, at the same time raising the bottom rate from 11% to 15% (in fact 15% and 28% became the only two tax brackets).
  • During the 1990s the top rate rose again, standing at 39.6% by the end of the decade.
  • The top rate was cut to 35% and the bottom rate was cut to 10% by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA).

[edit] History of progressivity in federal income tax

The federal income tax rates in the United States have varied widely since 1913. For example, in 1954 the Congress imposed a federal income tax on individuals, with the tax imposed in layers of 24 income brackets at tax rates ranging from 20% to 91% (for a chart, see Internal Revenue Code of 1954). Here is a partial history of changes in the U.S. federal income tax rates for individuals (and the income brackets) since 1979:

Year Income brackets Rate range
1979 15 brackets 14%-70%
1982 12 brackets 12%-50%
1987 5 brackets 11%-38.5%
1988 3 brackets 15%-33%
1991 3 brackets 15%-31%
1993 5 brackets 15%-39.6%
2001 5 brackets 15%-39.1%
2002 6 brackets 10%-38.6%
2003-2006 6 brackets 10%-35%

Source: Internal Revenue Service, Instructions for Form 1040 (for each year listed)

[edit] The complexity of the U.S. income tax laws

Even venerable legal scholars like Judge Learned Hand have expressed amazement and frustration with the complexity of the U.S. income tax laws. In an article called Thomas Walter Swan, 57 Yale Law Journal No. 2, 167, 169 (December 1947), Judge Hand wrote:

In my own case the words of such an act as the Income Tax . . . merely dance before my eyes in a meaningless procession: cross-reference to cross-reference, exception upon exception — couched in abstract terms that offer [me] no handle to seize hold of [and that] leave in my mind only a confused sense of some vitally important, but successfully concealed, purport, which it is my duty to extract, but which is within my power, if at all, only after the most inordinate expenditure of time. I know that these monsters are the result of fabulous industry and ingenuity, plugging up this hole and casting out that net, against all possible evasion; yet at times I cannot help recalling a saying of William James about certain passages of Hegel: that they were no doubt written with a passion of rationality; but that one cannot help wondering whether to the reader they have any significance save that the words are strung together with syntactical correctness.

Complexity is to some extent a separate issue from flatness of rate structures. In the United States, income tax codes are often legislatures' favored policy instrument for encouraging numerous undertakings deemed socially useful — including the buying of life insurance, the funding of employee health care and pensions, the raising of children, home ownership, development of alternative energy sources and increased investment in conventional energy. Special tax rebates granted for any purpose increase complexity, irrespective of the system's flatness or lack thereof.

[edit] State and territorial income taxes

Map of USA showing states with no state income tax in red, and states that tax only interest and dividend income in grey.
Map of USA showing states with no state income tax in red, and states that tax only interest and dividend income in grey.
Main article: State income tax

Income tax may also be levied by individual U.S. states and are on top of the federal income tax. In addition, some states allow individual cities to impose an additional income tax. However, some state and local taxes are deductible for federal tax purposes. Through this deduction, the federal government effectively subsidizes a portion of an individual's state income tax. Not all states levy an income tax and U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam pay no federal income tax.

[edit] Arguments against income taxation

For more details on this topic, see Tax protester arguments.

A libertarian viewpoint proposes the existence of a natural right to "enjoy all the fruits of one's own labor" (previously protected, some libertarians claim, by the Ninth Amendment). Taxation of income is argued to be an infringement on that right. Under this argument, income taxation offers the federal government a technique to radically diminish the power of the states, because the federal government is then able to distribute funding to states with conditions attached, often giving the states no choice but to submit to federal demands.

The FairTax legislation consistently before the U.S. House of Representatives proposes repealing the income tax in favor of a national sales tax. The Americans For Fair Taxation plan is to first pass the FairTax and then to focus grassroots efforts on HJR 16, sponsored by Congressman Steve King (R-IA), that proposes a repeal of the income tax.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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