Skip to footer

July 4th: Celebrate Independence Day with some tax facts

July 4th is upon us, complete with fireworks and celebratory picnics in honor of America's independence. Also in honor of American independence, the Reformed Broker has forwarded along some lovely tax facts. Enjoy!

|
Bruce Newman/Oxford Eagle/AP
Kaitlyn Urbanek carries a flag students made at a daycare during the annual First Baptist Church's Weekday Education Fourth of July parade in Oxford, Miss. on Tuesday, July 3, 2012. While some may celebrate the holiday with parades, the Reformed Broker also enjoys some celebratory tax facts alongside his fireworks.

Happy July 4th from the Tax Foundation, celebrate with these factoids below...

Top marginal income tax rate in 1913, the first year the modern income tax was levied: 7%

Inflation-adjusted annual income to qualify for the top rate in 1913: $11,332,304

Top marginal rate for tax year 2011: 35%

Minimum income needed to be subject to top rate in 2011: $379,150

Highest-ever marginal tax income rate: 94%

Years during which highest-ever marginal rate was levied: 1944-1945

Level to which it was lowered after in 1946: 91%

Number of days from the beginning of the year until Tax Freedom Day in 1900: 22

Number of days from the beginning of the year until Tax Freedom Day in 2012: 107

Inflation adjusted income required to be in the top 1% of earners in 1980: $219,970

Income required to be in the top 1% of earners in 2009: $343,927

Share of all federal income taxes paid by the top 1% in 1980: 19.05%

Share of all federal income taxes paid by the top 1% in 2009: 36.73%

Percentage of federal income taxes paid by the bottom 50% of all taxpayers in 1980: 7.05%

Percentage of federal income taxes paid by the bottom 50% of all taxpayers in 2009: 2.25%

Sources: IRS, Tax Foundation analysis.

RELATED: How much do you know about taxes? Take our quiz!

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to July 4th: Celebrate Independence Day with some tax facts
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Reformed-Broker/2012/0704/July-4th-Celebrate-Independence-Day-with-some-tax-facts
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe