Legal history of income tax in the United States adopted an income tax modeled on the tax instituted in England. The British theory was that you tax the income from property, and not the property itself; thus, sales of property were not subject to taxation. In order to help pay for its war effort in the American Civil War, the United States government imposed its first personal income tax, on August 5, 1861, as part of the Revenue Act of 1861. Tax rates were 3% on income exceeding $600 and less than $10,000, and 5% on income exceeding $10,000. This tax was repealed and replaced by another income tax
Hall income tax there were bills to raise state government revenue by reducing the fraction of the Hall tax that is distributed to local governments. The proposals for major changes to the Hall tax failed because of the lack of alternative sources of revenue. The Hall tax is Tennessee's only tax on personal income; the state does not levy a general personal income tax. As of 1974, the Tennessee Supreme Court had consistently held that the state constitution authorized only three types of taxes: privilege taxes, "ad valorem" property taxes, and a tax on income from interest and dividends. In decisions in 1932