It's Tax Time Again

Having a doozy of a time filing your income taxes? Confused by tax brackets? Upset about your credit score not allowing you to get a loan for the home of your dreams despite paying rent that is essentially at the mortgage level? Mad about bank overdraft fees just in general? You might be right to be angry and confused since many of these things are relatively new.

We've covered credit scores (did not exist for most of your grandparents when they were purchasing their first homes for a McChicken with a joint income of $15K per year and a letter from their pastor), bank fees (are relatively new and apparently something you can opt out of, unlike account maintenance fees), and mortgages (which are currently what some people are paying for rent thanks to increased cost of living-one day the lending rates will be under 5% again, but that day isn't today) in previous posts. If you're interested in learning more about any of those things simply search for them via keyword in the blog section of our site.

On to taxes! It's April of 2023 and you're freaked out because you haven't filed your taxes yet, but you don't quite understand how all of that works. Don't worry, you're not alone. It may help to know that federal income taxes in the U.S. came into being after the ratification of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913. Income taxes have little to do with income equality and more to do with government revenue streams. At this particular point in time, import taxes provided the largest share of the federal government's revenue stream. Basically, the Civil War kind of screwed up the revenue generated by these taxes and of course the government was looking to replace said income. Apparently, it took more than 40 years to get that figured out, considering that the Civil War ended in 1865. Long story short, this is something that started in 1909 and was eventually passed and morphed to the monster we know it as today. This is precisely why the history of tax rates only goes back to 1913 and not further. The more you know!

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