The Senate Committee on Finance has scheduled a public hearing on December 2, 2010, on “Tax Reform: Historical Trends in Income and Revenue.” This document,1 prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, provides a summary of the Federal tax system, briefly describes its historical development over the period of time beginning in 1975, and provides an appendix of selected historical data on Federal tax rates, Federal tax receipts, components of adjusted gross income, and other features of the Federal tax system. The current Federal tax system has four main elements: (1) an income tax on individuals and corporations (which consist of both a “regular” income tax and an alternative minimum tax); (2) payroll taxes on wages (and corresponding taxes on self-employment income); (3) estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, and (4) excise taxes on selected goods and services.

Authoritative and readable, this book is the first historical overview of US federal tax systems published since 1967. Its coverage extends from the ratification of the Constitution to the present day. Brownlee describes the five principal stages of federal taxation in relation to the crises that led to their adoption - the formation of the republic, the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II - and discusses the significant modification during the Reagan presidency of the last stage. Brownlee also addresses the proposals made since the fall of 1994 congressional elections under the 'Contract with America' and competing schemes, and he assesses today's conditions for a tax revolution in the light of the national emergencies that have produced revolutions in the past. While focusing on federal policy, Brownlee also attends to the related history of state and local taxation.

"The United States Code is the official codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States of America. The Code was first published in 1926, and a new edition of the code has been published every six years since 1934. The 2012 edition of the Code incorporates laws enacted through the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, the last of which was signed by the President on January 15, 2013. It does not include laws of the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, enacted between January 2, 2013, the date it convened, and January 15, 2013. By statutory authority this edition may be cited "U.S.C. 2012 ed." As adopted in 1926, the Code established prima facie the general and permanent laws of the United States. The underlying statutes reprinted in the Code remained in effect and controlled over the Code in case of any discrepancy. In 1947, Congress began enacting individual titles of the Code into positive law. When a title is enacted into positive law, the underlying statutes are repealed and the title then becomes legal evidence of the law. Currently, 26 of the 51 titles in the Code have been so enacted. These are identified in the table of titles near the beginning of each volume. The Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives continues to prepare legislation pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 285b to enact the remainder of the Code, on a title-by-title basis, into positive law. The 2012 edition of the Code was prepared and published under the supervision of Ralph V. Seep, Law Revision Counsel. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the contributions by all who helped in this work, particularly the staffs of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel and the Government Printing Office"--Preface.

This authoritative and readable survey is a comprehensive historical overview of federal taxation and fiscal policy in the United States, extending from the era of the American Revolution to the present day. Brownlee relates the principal stages of federal taxation to the crises that led to their adoption, including but not limited to: the formation of the republic, the Civil War, World War I and II, and the challenges to government that took hold during the 1980s. In this third edition, Brownlee adds four new chapters covering the colonial era, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the 1920s, and the post-1945 era including the tax policies of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. It features expanded discussion of government expenditures, deficits and debt, public resources, counter-cyclical fiscal policy, and state and local taxation. Its interdisciplinary interpretation makes it perfect for scholars, graduate students and advanced undergraduate students.