On February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment, which allowed for a federal income tax, was ratified. While some might not think this is a cause for celebration, it is an important historical event to have reached the 100th anniversary. The income tax has allowed for a progressive tax system. It has also led to many special rules that are a backdoor, less transparent ways to provide for government spending. Perhaps we’ll see some of that reduced this year since both political parties have been talking about base broadening and lowering the personal and corporate tax rates. We’ll see.
For more on the 16th Amendment and some tax history, please see my 21st Century Taxation post here
Annette Nellen, CPA, Esq., is a professor in and director of San Jose State University’s graduate tax program (MST), teaching courses in tax research, accounting methods, property transactions, state taxation, employment tax, ethics, tax policy, tax reform, and high technology tax issues.
Annette is the immediate past chair of the AICPA Individual Taxation Technical Resource Panel and a current member of the Executive Committee of the Tax Section of the California Bar. Annette is a regular contributor to the AICPA Tax Insider and Corporate Taxation Insider e-newsletters. She is the author of BNA Portfolio #533, Amortization of Intangibles.
Annette has testified before the House Ways & Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, California Assembly Revenue & Taxation Committee, and tax reform commissions and committees on various aspects of federal and state tax reform.
Prior to joining SJSU, Annette was with Ernst & Young and the IRS.
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