A Guide to Zimbabwe Goverment Revenue

The IRS has a long history of enforcing various form of taxes and a variety of regulation in the United States of America. In fact, federal agencies such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms began as part of the IRS before separation onto its own agency. Below is a brief timeline of the origins of the IRS and subsequent events that transformed it into the agency it is today:

Taxation was only able to be acquired by state governments and each state had different laws

In 1861, Lincoln levied the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Needing cash with which to fund the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and the Congress agreed to impose a 3 percent tax on annual incomes over $800.00. The wording of the Revenue Act was broadly written to define income as a monetary gain derived from any kind of property, or from any specialized trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere or from any source whatever. (A&E Television Networks, 2014)

Business taxes can have a huge impact on the profitability of businesses and the amount of business investment. Taxation is a very important factor in the financial investment decision-making process because a lower tax burden allows the company to lower prices or generate higher revenue, which can then be paid out in wages, salaries and/or dividends. Business taxes include, Federal Income Tax; a tax levied by a national government on annual income, Payroll Tax; a tax an employer withholds and/or pays on behalf of their employees based on the wage or salary of the employee, Unemployment Tax; a federal tax that is allocated to unemployment agencies to fund unemployment assistance for laid-off workers, and Sales Tax; a tax imposed by the government at the point of sale on retail goods and services. Sales tax is based on a percentage of the selling prices of the goods and services. Consumers pay sales taxes, but effectively, business pay them since the tax increases consumer’s costs and causes them to buy less.

The power to tax resided within the states. Congress could request taxes from the states, but had no right to impose a tax. To levy the requested tax though 9/13 states had to agree with it which made Congress led taxes harder to pass. An example of this would have been when Robert Morris attempted to raise revenue to reduce inflation. Many states opposed his proposal for a national tariff, which would raise a five percent tax on foreign goods, and so it never came to

The focus of what the government wanted to tax changed over the years, it started with taxing incomes and then moved on to taxing tobacco and distilled spirits and eliminated the income tax in 1872. It had a short-lived revival in 1894 and 1895. In the latter year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the income tax was unconstitutional because it was not apportioned among the states in conformity with the Constitution. It wouldn’t be until 1913 that the 16th amendment was passed and added to the Constitution that income tax would become a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system.

Then there is the Internal Revenue act of 1861, which increased income tax rate. This assured us that the government would have a, “reliable source of income to pay the interest of war bonds” (119). In addition to that, we have the Subsequent Revenue act of 1862 and 1864, which allowed for progressive tax bracket. This act had a tax system that put a tax on everything, for example, medicines, yachts, and etc. The Morril tariff Act of 1860 and 1861 was a reform in which the tax was doubled on items in which customs tax could be collected. Furthermore, the National banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 encouraged people to carry out national currency and national charters. Provision of the 1864, which executed a 10 percent tax on the banknotes of the states. Because the tax base grew by a significant amount a Bureau of Internal Revenue had to be created to control and regulate the tax needs.

It had usually been during war time; the income tax was the first peacetime income tax. During the War of 1812, Secretary of Treasury Alexander J. Dallas made the first demand to levy an income tax, but it was never put into effect. During the Civil War, the Revenue Act of 1861 was ratified. At first, anyone earning more than $800 would pay a tax of 3%. Eventually, people making more than $600 would have to pay up to 5%. This income tax stopped in 1866, after the war ended. Before the 16th amendment, there were only excise taxes and custom duties. There were also federal taxes, such as taxes on imports, liquor, tobacco, and other related goods, as well as state taxes, such as poll, real estate and sales taxes. But income taxes were a more stable source of

The first agency is called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The mission for the ATF is a “Law enforcement agency in the United State Department of Justice that protects our communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations, the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, acts of arson and bombings, acts of terrorism, and the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products”. They partner with communities, industries, and public safety agencies to protect the public they serve through information sharing, training, research and use of technology. ATF was established on July 1, 1972. The ATF was formerly part of the United States Department of the Treasury, which had been formed in 1886 as the "Revenue Laboratory" within the Treasury Department 's Bureau of Internal Revenue. ATF is the youngest tax-collecting Treasury agency, separated from the Internal Revenue Service by Treasury Department Order No. 120-1, since 1 July 1972. Also, in 1789 under the new Constitution, the first Congress imposed a tax on imported

The second of the tax components is sales tax. Sales tax is usually controlled by the counties as

The Act of 1862 established the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The Commissioner was given the power to assess, levy, and collect taxes, and the right to enforce the tax laws through seizure of property and income and through prosecution. The powers and authority remain

America’s first income tax was executed as a way to help finance the overwhelming costs of the Civil War. Even though the income tax in 1862 was commonly a personal income tax, it added a tax on corporations, including withholding and taxing certain corporate interest and dividends but pursued to avoid double taxation. “An 1885 pamphlet wrote ‘‘[double corporate taxation] violate[s] the principles at the foundation of all systems of taxation’’ (Bloomfield 2011 p. 179). This attempt to raise money was not successful and public debt continued to rise. In response, the 1864 tax act reduced income ceilings and specifically included partnerships and corporations as taxable individuals. Afterwards, the Revenue Act of 1913 formally distinguished personal

In order for these governments to function there was a need for revenue to meet the expenses incurred by these governments. This need for revenue was met by levying taxes on individuals and businesses. It has always been a question to the population being taxed as to whether or not the government was doing a good job in assessing and managing the money it collected from taxes.

The U.S. Customs was not officially established until the 1780s. Originally, right after the American Revolutionary War, many American’s were weary of federal government’s control and involvement. For this very reason many American States would proceed and hire their own customs agents collecting revenue for the states and not federal government. It would not be until 1787 the Abortive Impost Bill would officially be a law at the Constitutional Convention. These new federal customs agents would now be tasked with enforcing revenue laws. Interestingly, Customs would be the largest agency besides the Continental Army, and had a low rate of

Afternoon once again some more on Zimbabwe...DISCUSS THE RISE AND EXPANSION OF THE MUTAPA STATE. (NOV 2008)