Taxes
All the Weird Ways People Have Tried to Avoid Paying Taxes
Nobody likes paying taxes. Even so, most people have probably never considered telling the Internal Revenue Service they can’t pay because their social security number is heretical. Here, we collect the most creative excuses Americans have made for evading their taxes. 1. I ...read more
7 Contentious Trade Wars in US History
While some trade war tactics have led to revolutions (Boston Tea Party), others have failed miserably (Smoot-Hawley Act). Here’s a look at seven U.S. trade wars that made an impact—for better or for worse—on our country. 1. The Boston Tea Party Major players: American colonists, ...read more
Why We Pay Taxes
Since 1950, individual income taxes have been the primary source of revenue for the U.S. federal government. Together with payroll taxes (used to fund social programs like Social Security and Medicare), income taxes amount to roughly 80 percent of all federal revenue, and are the ...read more
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion was a 1794 uprising of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government. Following years of aggression with tax collectors, the region finally exploded in a confrontation that resulted in President ...read more
Meet the Man Who Invented Modern Retirement
Sometimes history is made by presidents, revolutionaries, artists, or groundbreaking scientists. But at least once it was altered by a pension benefits consultant sitting at his desk in Pennsylvania studying the tax code in the late 1970s. Today, Ted Benna is known as the “father ...read more
6 Surprising Facts Found in Presidential Tax Returns Through History
Some presidents took some significant tax cuts while others proved to be surprisingly generous with charitable givings. Here are six surprising things we’ve learned about past presidents from their taxes. 1. Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1933-45 FDR didn’t release his tax returns, but ...read more
Shays’ Rebellion
Shays’ Rebellion was a series of violent attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts that began in 1786 and led to a full-blown military confrontation in 1787. The rebels were mostly ex-Revolutionary War soldiers-turned farmers who opposed state ...read more
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power. The British sent troops to America to ...read more