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A short history of American tax policy for @winesalongirl, highlighting the larger questions at stake: when we levy taxes, we are deliberately shaping society. The question is... what society are we shaping? 1/
Before the Civil War, the US had no national taxation because southern slave holders kept the government small and inactive. They wanted no interference with slavery + wanted money to accumulate in their hands, so they could advance "progress." A few tariffs funded government./2 
Republicans under Lincoln believed that progress came from regular folks, so they created an active government to promote opportunity. That meant new systems of funding, including taxation. In 1861, GOP invented national taxation, and in 1862, the graduated income tax. /3
