Income tax By the 1860s, the progressive tax had become a grudgingly accepted element of the English fiscal system. The US federal government imposed the first personal income tax on August 5, 1861, to help pay for its war effort in the American Civil War - (3% of all incomes over US$800) (equivalent to $ in ). This tax was repealed and replaced by another income tax in 1862. It was only in 1894 that the first peacetime income tax was passed through the Wilson-Gorman tariff. The rate was 2% on income over $4000 (equivalent to $ in ), which meant fewer
Dual income tax Dual income tax The dual income tax system levies a proportional tax rate on all net income (capital, wage and pension income less deductions) combined with progressive tax rates on gross labour and pension income. This implies that labour income is taxed at higher rates than capital income, and that the value of the tax allowances is independent of the income level. The dual income tax system deliberately moves away from the comprehensive income tax (global income tax) system which taxes all or most (cash) income less deductions (net income) according to the same rate schedule. The dual income tax