Revenue Act of 1913 - wikipedia Revenue Act of 1913 The Revenue Act of 1913, also known as the Tariff Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Underwood Act, the Underwood Tariff Act, or the Underwood - Simmons Act ( ch. 16, 38 Stat. 114, October 3, 1913 ), re-imposed the federal income tax after the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment and lowered basic tariff rates from 40 % to 25 %, well below the Payne - Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909. It was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on October 3, 1913 and was sponsored by Alabama Representative Oscar Underwood. Oscar Underwood Contents 1 Tariffs 2 Income tax 2.1 Income tax table for individuals 2.2 Adjusted for inflation 3 Impact 4 References 5 Sources Tariffs Wilson summoned a special session of the Congress in April 1913. His immediate objective was to confront the perennial tariff question, and he brought special attention to the matter by deciding to appear in person before Congress to make his appeal. He was the first president since John Adams to do so. The joint session was a spectacular event. A huge crowd gathered, and every seat in the House chamber was taken. Newspaper coverage was intense. Wilson spoke only briefly but made it clear that tariff reform was needed and that he would not be a party to a repeat of the embarrassment of the thwarted reform of 1894. The burden was clearly on the shoulders of the Democrats, as they controlled both houses of Congress for the first time in 18 years. Underwood guided a reform measure through the House of Representatives, but his counterpart in the Senate, Furnifold McLendel Simmons of North Carolina, reverted to form and allowed numerous increases in the tariffs to be added. Wilson, unlike many of his predecessors, took the offensive. He went to the Capitol and twisted the arms of backsliding Democrats. He also warned the public of the invasion of Washington, DC, then underway by scores of lobbyists. Wilson was successful with generating a public reaction. Angry constituents wrote to their representatives and demanded tariff reform. The Act passed the House 281 - 139 on May 8, 1913. Wilson used his patronage powers to guide it to passage by the Senate, which occurred 44 - 37 on September 9, 1913. Politically, the Act was considered a major triumph for the new president. The Act established the lowest rates since the Walker Tariff of 1857. Most schedules were ad valorem basis, a percentage of the value of the item. The duty on woolens went from 56 % to 18.5 %. Steel rails, raw wool, iron ore, and agricultural implements now had zero rates. The reciprocity program wanted by the Republicans was eliminated. Congress rejected proposals for a tariff board to fix rates scientifically, but it set up a study commission. The Underwood - Simmons measure vastly increased the free list, adding woolens, iron, steel, farm machinery, and many raw materials and foodstuffs. The average rate was approximately 26 %. Income tax The Act also provided for the reinstitution of a federal income tax to compensate for the anticipated loss of revenue from the reduction of tariff duties. The most recent effort to tax incomes, the Wilson - Gorman Tariff of 1894, had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because the tax on dividends, interest, and rents had been deemed to be a direct tax not apportioned by representation. That obstacle, however, was removed by ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment on February 3, 1913. The Act, which was declared to be constitutional later that year by the Supreme Court in Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, provided : ``... subject only to such exemptions and deductions as are hereinafter allowed, the net income of a taxable person shall 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, businesses, trade, commerce, or sales, or dealings in property, whether real or personal, growing out of the ownership or use of or interest in real or personal property, also from interest, rent, dividends, securities, or the transaction of any lawful business carried on for gain or profit, or gains or profits and income derived from any source whatever... '' The incomes of couples exceeding $4,000, as well as those of single persons earning $3,000 or more, were subject to a 1 % tax. Also, the measure provided a progressive tax structure ; those with high incomes were taxed at higher rates. In only a few years, the income tax became the federal government 's chief source of income and greatly exceeded tariff revenues. Less than 1 % of the population then paid federal income tax. The Act was applicable to incomes for 1913, 1914, and 1915. Income tax table for individuals A normal income tax and an additional tax were levied against the net income of individuals, as shown in the following table : Revenue Act of 1913 Normal income tax and additional tax on individuals 38 Stat. 166 Income Normal rate Additional rate Combined rate 0 1 % 0 1 % $20,000 1 % 1 % 2 % $50,000 1 % 2 % 3 % $75,000 1 % 3 % 4 % $100,000 1 % 4 % 5 % $250,000 1 % 5 % 6 % $500,000 1 % 6 % 7 % There was an exemption of $3,000 for single filers and $4,000 for married couples. Therefore, the 1 % bottom marginal rate applied only to the first $17,000 ( $374,400 in 2010 dollars ) of income for single filers or the first $16,000 ( $352,300 in 2010 dollars ) of income for married filers ( see also below the adjustments for inflation between 1913 and 2010 in the BLS table ). The ratio of top marginal rate to bottom marginal rate in 1913 was 7 : 1 ( 7 % : 1 % ). The last time a similar ratio was applicable was in 1980, when the ratio of the top rate to the bottom rate was 6.36 : 1 ( 70 % : 11 % ). In 1981, the top rate was reduced to 50 %, and in 1986, it was reduced to 28 % ( the bottom rate rose from 11 % to 15 % ). The 1986 change dramatically altered the ratio, from 6.36 : 1 to 1.87 : 1 ( 28 % : 15 % ). Today, the ratio is 3.96 : 1 ( 39.6 % : 10 % ). Adjusted for inflation Here are the rates adjusted for inflation by the average Consumer Price Index : 1913 dollars Inflation 2010 dollars Exempt - 1913 Exempt - 2010 $3,000 2,200 % $66,100 Single filers $3,000 Singles $9,350 or 14.1 % $4,000 2,200 % $88,100 * Married filers $4,000 Marrieds $18,700 or 21.2 % $20,000 2,200 % $440,400 $50,000 2,200 % $1,101,000 $75,000 2,200 % $1,651,600 $100,000 2,200 % $2,202,100 $250,000 2,200 % $5,505,300 $500,000 2,200 % $11,010,700 All figures are rounded. In 2010 dollars, the 2010 personal exemption ( $3,650 ) and the standard deduction ( $5,700 ) for single filers were together $9,350, only 14.1 % of the 1913 exemption of $66,100 in 2010 dollars ( $9,350 / $66,100 ). In 2010 dollars, the 2010 personal exemptions ( $7,300 ) and the standard deduction ( $11,400 ) for married couples filing jointly were together $18,700, only 21.2 % of the 1913 exemption of $88,100 in 2010 dollars ( $18,700 / $88,100 ). Impact It is impossible to offer a meaningful judgment on the impact of the Act because the entire international economic picture was soon upset by the outbreak of World War I. American products were in great demand throughout the world, making the question of protectionism moot. The next reordering of national tariff policy would not occur until after the war ended, and the Fordney - McCumber Tariff of 1922 raised the rates. There was nevertheless an impact for the Cuban Tabaco Industry concerning their import to the States. Theodor Garbade, President of the Union of Manufacturers of Cigars of Cuba laid this out to Cuban  ́ s President Mario G. Menocal. However, the top marginal income tax rate of 7 % was mentioned in Ronald Reagan 's remarks on the South Lawn of the White House on October 22, 1986, when he said that the top rate was for `` the equivalent of multimillionaires today. '' The Act also created a new group of tax - exempt organizations dedicated to social welfare. The provision was a precursor to what is now Internal Revenue Code Section 501 ( c ) ( 4 ). References Jump up ^ Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. The President 's State of the Union Message : Frequently Asked Questions. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/stateoftheunion.pdf Jump up ^ Revenue Act of 1913, Section II, A. subdiv. 1, 38 Stat. 114, 166. Jump up ^ Revenue Act of 1913, Section II, B., 38 Stat. 114, 167. Jump up ^ Revenue Act of 1913, Section II, C., 38 Stat. 114, 168. Jump up ^ Surtax rates under the Revenue Acts 1913 - 1926 Jump up ^ Facsimile from Statutes at Large Jump up ^ `` an important memorialñ ''. Cuban Revue. 1913 / III : 108. February 2017. Jump up ^ https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1986/102286a.htm Jump up ^ Gershman, Jacob ( May 16, 2013 ). `` The Surprisingly Muddled History of the 501 ( c ) ( 4 ) Exemption ''. The Wall Street Journal. Sources Allen, Howard W. ( 1961 ). `` Geography and Politics : Voting on Reform Issues in the United States Senate, 1911 -- 1916 ''. Journal of Southern History. 27 ( 2 ) : 216 -- 228. JSTOR 2205279. Cole, Arthur H. ( 1921 ). `` The Domestic and Foreign Wool Manufactures and the Tariff Problem ''. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 36 ( 1 ) : 102 -- 135. doi : 10.2307 / 1883781. Crucini, Mario J. ( 1994 ). `` Sources of Variation in Real Tariff Rates : The United States, 1900 - 1940 ''. American Economic Review. 84 ( 3 ) : 732 -- 743. JSTOR 2118081. Hoffmann, I. Newton ( 1914 ). `` Customs Administration under the 1913 Tariff Act ''. Journal of Political Economy. 22 ( 9 ) : 845 -- 871. JSTOR 1817810. doi : 10.1086 / 252537. Link, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson : vol 2, The New Freedom. Woodrow Wilson 28th President of the United States ( 1913 -- 1921 ) 34th Governor of New Jersey ( 1911 -- 1913 ) 13th President of Princeton University ( 1902 -- 1910 ) Presidency 1913 inauguration Suffrage Parade 1917 inauguration The New Freedom Clayton Antitrust Act Farm Loan Act Federal Employees ' Compensation Act Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Act Federal Income Tax amendment Federal Trade Commission Act Federal Trade Commission Revenue Act of 1913 Flag Day National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Occupation of Haiti Bryan -- Chamorro Treaty Philippine Autonomy Act World War I entry campaigns home front Committee on Public Information Espionage Act of 1917 Selective Service Act of 1917 Four Minute Men Sedition Act of 1918 National War Labor Board The Inquiry American Commission to Negotiate Peace Paris Peace Conference, 1919 Treaty of Versailles The Big Four Fourteen Points League of Nations charter 1919 Nobel Peace Prize Silent Sentinels Women 's Suffrage amendment Roosevelt desk Judicial appointments Supreme Court Cabinet State of the Union Address 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1920 Life Birthplace and Presidential Library papers and manuscripts Boyhood home in Georgia Boyhood home in South Carolina Princeton University president Summer White House ( Harlakenden Shadow Lawn ) Woodrow Wilson House Gravesite Books Congressional Government When a Man Comes to Himself The New Freedom ( 1913 ) Elections New Jersey gubernatorial election, 1910 1912 Democratic National Convention 1912 U.S. presidential election 1916 Democratic National Convention 1916 U.S. presidential election Legacy Wilsonianism Woodrow Wilson Foundation Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Celestial Sphere Woodrow Wilson Memorial Woodrow Wilson Bridge Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation U.S. Postage stamps U.S. Currency Popular culture Wilson ( 1944 film ) Profiles in Courage ( 1965 series ) Wilson ( 2013 book ) Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of the American Century ( 2002 documentary ) Family Joseph Ruggles Wilson ( father ) Jessie Janet Woodrow ( mother ) Ellen Axson Wilson ( wife, 1885 -- 1914 ; death ) Edith Bolling Wilson ( wife, 1915 -- 1924 ) Margaret Wilson ( daughter ) Jessie Wilson Sayre ( daughter ) Eleanor Wilson McAdoo ( daughter ) William McAdoo ( son - in - law ) Francis Sayre, Jr. ( grandson ) James Woodrow ( maternal uncle ) Related Progressive Era Jefferson Literary and Debating Society ← William Howard Taft Warren G. Harding → Tax Acts of the United States Internal Revenue 1861 1862 1864 1913 1916 1917 1918 1921 1924 1926 1928 1932 1934 1935 1936 1940 1940 ( 2nd ) 1941 1942 1943 1943 1944 1945 1948 1950 1950 1951 1954 1954 Code 1962 1964 1968 1969 1971 1976 1977 1978 1981 1982 Gas Tax 1984 COBRA 1986 1986 Code 2008 Crisis 2012 Tariffs 1789 : Hamilton I 1790 : Hamilton II 1792 : Hamilton III 1816 : Dallas 1824 : Sectional 1828 : `` Abominations '' 1832 1833 : Compromise 1842 : Black 1846 : Walker 1857 1861 : Morrill 1872 1875 1883 : Mongrel 1890 : McKinley 1894 : Wilson -- Gorman 1897 : Dingley 1909 : Payne -- Aldrich 1913 : Underwood 1921 : Emergency 1922 : Fordney -- McCumber 1930 : Smoot -- Hawley 1934 : Reciprocal 1948 : GATT 1962 1974 / 75 1979 1984 1988 : Canada FT 1993 : NAFTA 1994 : WTO 2002 : Steel Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revenue_Act_of_1913&oldid=795884906 '' Categories : 1913 in law 1913 in the United States History of the United States ( 1865 -- 1918 ) United States federal taxation legislation United States federal trade legislation Presidency of Woodrow Wilson October 1913 events Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2008 Articles with unsourced statements from February 2009 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 17 August 2017, at 03 : 08. 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Question: which u.s. president enacted the federal income tax system
Answer: Woodrow Wilson