Happy Birthday: Tax Code Increases 73,208 Pages Since Inception...
It's doubtful most people will notice, let alone celebrate, Friday's 100th anniversary of the U.S. income tax code. But, yes taxpayers, Oct. 4, 2013, is the centennial.
So, happy birthday income tax?
"Obviously, it depends on your perspective," said Ajay Mehrotra, a history professor at Indiana University.
"But there's one thing we can take from the period of time when the tax law passed," he said. "And that is lawmakers got together and realized some permanent form of taxation was needed instead of having a political stalemate that got nowhere."
One expert sees the 100 years as a system run amok.
"In 1913, the tax code consisted of 400 pages," said Timothy Nash, a professor of free market economics at Northwood University.
"By 2012, the tax code was 73,608 pages," he said. "We have gone from a simple tax system to a complex, unfriendly system."
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