Ben Franklin once said nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. In reality for most of the country, that’s only been the case for the last 100 years. Feb. 3 marks the 100th anniversary of the 16th Amendment that gave the country the federal income tax.
At the time that Franklin wrote those words in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, most taxes were on sales or from the states. There are still those who argue the federal income tax is unconstitutional, but it’s a difficult argument given that Congress and 42 of 48 states ratified the amendment in 1913.
Host Carmen Russell-Sluchansky spoke with Lawrence Zelenak, a tax law professor at Duke University Law School to discuss the 100th anniversary of the 16th Amendment.
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