The 1913 progressive income tax replaced regressive tariffs that burdened the poor most

Evidence

Our modern income tax system traces its roots to the Revenue Act of 1913, which instituted what’s called a “progressive” income tax system: In theory, tax rates increase as income increases. The idea is that the wealthy—those with the greatest “ability to pay”—should carry more responsibility for funding government services than those who make less. The new federal income tax replaced a system of indirect taxes on imports and tariffs on tobacco and alcohol, which hit the poorest Americans the hardest because they paid the same tariff rates as the wealthy despite having less ability to pay. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 44

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes what ‘progressive’ means (rates rise with income) and the ‘ability to pay’ principle that anchors the book’s fairness critique.