Changes

'''Income tax''' is a tax levied by government on the income of individuals and businesses. The income tax was first introduced in the [[United States]] in 1862 as a levy on the salary of federal officers. In 1913, the [[Sixteenth Amendment]] to the Constitution made clear the federal government can collect taxes from any source, free from the previous requirement to apportion the tax among the [[states]] in proportion to their [[census]] [[population]]s.

Since the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, the top income tax rate paid by the rich has fallen sharply. However the proportion of GDP absorbed by federal taxes has remained constant at about 20%, in accord with Hauser's Law.<ref>See [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121124460502305693.html David Randon, "You Can't Soak the Rich," ''Wall Street Journal'' May 20, 2008]</ref> Growth, however, has halved since the top rate of tax was cut. [[Liberal]] critics of [[Free Market]] capitalism point at this as evidence that cutting taxes does not benefit the whole of society, just the rich.<ref>http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/09/12/840641/tax-cuts-rich-economic-growth/</ref>

==Year 2007 income brackets and tax rates==