August 5 in American History

August 5, 1861 — the first federal income tax is enacted

Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861 to help fund the Civil War, taxing incomes over $800 at 3%. It was repealed a decade later and the modern income tax didn't return permanently until the 16th Amendment in 1913 — a reminder that "temporary wartime measure" has a long history of outliving the war.