16th Amendment- Income Tax

Essential Questions:
  • What issues prompted the creation of the 16th amendment?
  • What impact did the 16th amendment have on society?


What did the 16th amendment do?

Allows the Congress to levy an income tax without allowing it among the states or basing it on the United States population.



Here is a Q&A about the 16th amendment.

Q.What caused the amendment to be made?
A.Farmers wanted to make more profit from their sales because of a high manufacturing that was placed so they wanted to hire the taxes. Congress also wanted a way to collect taxes more effectively, and not have to share the tax money with the states, federal income tax was necessary.
Q. Was this amendment helpful?
A. Yes, it was. It helped give farmers a larger profit when selling goods. As well as help balance payments through out the country.
Q. Did it take long for the amendment to be made and passed?
A. Yes, it took some time. This is because it was a controversial matter between the government.
Q. Was the idea controversial?
A. Yes, it was. This is because it took a while for the government to come to a conclusion and it carried both pros and cons if the amendment was released. Also because they were not sure if the people will accept it.
Q. Was this amendment vetoed?
A. No it was not. This amendment was never vetoed.
Q. Was there a big issue before this amendment was made?
A. Yes, the government needed money and people were paying too much in income and taxes. Farmers were also not making enough profit so a change needed to be made.
Q. Who came up with the idea for this amendment?
A. Different people in congress got complaints and came up with the idea for the 16th amendment. They got complaints from farmers to business men.
Q.Why was congress chosen to tax?
A. They were because they would make the tax fair but enough to make money for the government.
Q. What form of tax was used before?
A. Basically the same except the taxes were a lot more more and had ridiculous prices.
Q.Was this amendment truly essential for society?
A. Yes, because it put down the price of tax and made it fair.
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Essential Question 1: What issues prompted the creation of the 16th amendment?

There were issues that prompted the creation of the 16th amendment. There was an issue that farmers were complaining about, the said that they were paying more money than they were making. Farmers complained about this issue and this issue had to be resolved. When the congress heard many people in congress came up with an idea for a new amendment, the 16th amendment to make sure taxes and income were balanced. Therefore, the farmers had a problem but citizens had a problem with it too. The taxes on citizens were on items and they had income too. The income and taxes were not balanced and needed to be fixed. Just like the farmers, people complained to congress and that is how the congress made it a bill. That bill turned into an amendment because it was a fair amendment and balanced out payments. In conclusion, the issues complained by the society and farmers prompted the creation of the 16th amendment. (S.D.)
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Essential Question 2: What impact did the 16th amendment have on society?



The 16th amendment had an impact on society. At first the people were quite satisfied, but as the years passed a change of mind occurred. The taxes were becoming higher and the wealthier citizens were getting more tax breaks. After the amendment was published the rates on the wealthiest Americans were raised from 7 percent to 77 percent. This helped balance the tax income. Now only 5 percent of American families pay personal income taxes, but they accounted for around 80 percent of revenues. This amendment was also helping to prevent stock market crashes. Now this amendment started to pay off and have somewhat of a more positive impact. But business interest was fought back in 1921 which led to making the top tax rate 25 percent. In the end, the 16th amendment had a good impact on society over all. (N.D.)


Here are some useful links:

16th Amendment - Kids | Laws.com

Our Documents - 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ...

Federal Income Tax: 16th Amendment | US Constitution

Websites used:

  1. 16th Amendment-kids/Laws.com
  2. Our documents-16th amendment to the U.S. Constitution:Federal income Tax(1913)
  3. Celebrating The 16th amendment:What we payed for Civil Society
  4. givemeliberty.com
  5. thenewamerican.com
  6. vivienkellems.org



Current Event

"What your 2015 income tax dollars are paid for" http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/18/pf/taxes/how-are-tax-dollars-spent/index.html

This article explains how income tax for the last year is spent by the government. The government is using tax dollars on some things that matter and others not. The government are using 28.7% of the income tax we pay on health programs and it may be relevant but they do not have to use a quarter of our money on it. This is relevant but there are other important things like poverty, military and world hunger. This shows how the government aren't caring a lot for better needs than they are paying for. Therefore, the government are paying more for little needs and paying less for important needs. They are spending 4% of the income on food, which doesn't help the hungry people and 1.2% on transportation which is bad because some people have to use the bus and there might not be a lot of buses. And this explains how the government is not spending enough money on things that matter the most but they will spend it on kid of high priority things. This shows how the government likes to spend the money that they get from income tax every year. In conclusion, the government spends money on less important things than they do more important things.(S.D)

This is connected to society now because it is in society now. The government now is spending how they do on less important things and more important things. The article said how they spent all the money from the 2015 income tax payment are spent by the government and the percentage of the amount paid. They explained how the money was spent and that is recent so it connects to now because it was not that long ago and the income tax is still in effect. This shows how the article is connected to now because it was a recent event and all the things said in it happen now. Therefore, the article is connected to now but also the amount of money they got from income tax is insane. The government earned 4.2 billion dollars from income tax and they are spending most of it on health care and military programs. The government spends that much money a year and that is why they are in debt which is what is happening now. This shows how the government spends our money and how much they make. In conclusion, the article what it says about the government is connected to today. (S.D)


The terrible truth about income inequality


The article explains how income tax is unequal. The government are making well paying jobs unfair to people that have them. The article says that the government are charging more for the people who have better jobs and they do not think it is fair. The government are charging lower amounts for people who have not so great jobs and the people with good paying jobs are earning way less than they are supposed to. This is unequal because some people pay higher income and some don't. Therefore, people pay higher than others and they want equal taxes. The article explains how people with the higher paying jobs believe that everyone should pay the same amount of income tax. This would be fair to people with higher paying jobs but would be unfair to the people who have lower paying jobs. This shows how the income tax is unequal because if both sides get what they want then one side will be mad. In conclusion, the income tax is unequal and is unfair to both sides. (S.D)

This connected to society now because that is an issue now. The U.S. is using income unfairly now as the article addresses a problem that is happening now. The Higher paid jobs now still have more income and the people that have those jobs are furious about it. The lower paid people are not really mad but they are scared about the government raising their income and that is connected to now because that is a huge problem. Therefore, this is connected to now but the solution is still trying to happen. The higher paid people are still trying to get the solution where both payings would pay the same amount of income. That is still happening right now and the lower class do not like how that is happening. In conclusion, the income tax inequality is a problem right now




Why Flat Tax is More Popular than Ever-

http://time.com/4107231/flat-tax/?iid=sr-link1


Income tax a huge controversy of today. A big aspect of it is flat tax. The article “Why Flat Tax is More Popular than Ever” by TIME magazine says that Republican are mostly sticking to un-progressive tax rate. For example, Ted Cruz is calling for a 10% flat tax. This would mean that no matter the income of the person the tax rate for all citizens would be 10% and since it is un-progressive it will not change depending on the total income and tax levy. Another thing the article mentioned was that most people tend to lean towards un-progressive flat tax because the more educated side of the public favors proportionality over dis-proportionality.(N.D)
This article describes how flat tax is a big part of the economic world. It is the flip side to the traditional marginal tax. Instead of basing the tax rate on the amount of income someone makes. Another thing I learned from this article is that many people want a flat tax and currently it is just as popular as marginal tax. This article shows how the 16th is still relevant today because it shows that it matters and that our country needs to sustain itself. For example the money made from income tax goes into building roads, buildings, the military, and other crucial but costly aspects of our society. Finally from this article said that many people have plans to change and many people want to change what type of income tax method we use.
(N.D)

How Taxes would be much higher president Bernie Sanders-

http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/19/pf/taxes/bernie-sanders-taxes/index.html
In the grueling presidential election each candidate proposed different ideas and plans for when they became president. One specific candidate is Bernie Sanders, he has plans to use a marginal tax rate while other candidates mostly preferred flat taxes. For example he wants to separate different people by their bracket and bend the tax rate so it fits around everyone’s income. A huge part of Sander's tax plan is to make the rich pay more while the less wealthy pay less. Even though Bernie wants to lower the taxes for the poorer many are still saying that the amount he is increasing taxes is huge.
(N.D)
This article describes how the marginal tax can be interpreted by two different articles depending on the bracket you are in. For example if you make more money that most others than flat tax is better for you while marginal tax is worse because it is increased. This article shows that the 16th amendment is still relevant because it shows how the public needs it to maintain order and to provide the money as well. Another way this shows that the amendment is still relevant is that people need the income taxes but are trying to find a fair way to collect them.
(N.D)