Internal Revenue Service Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Post 16th Amendment (1913–present)=== Though the constitutional amendment to allow the federal government to collect income taxes was proposed by [[William Howard Taft|President Taft]] in 1909, the [[Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|16th Amendment]] was not ratified until 1913, just before the start of the [[World War I|First World War]]. That same year, the first edition of the 1040 form was introduced. A copy of the 1913 form can be viewed online<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/1913.pdf |title=The first 1040 with instructions |access-date=November 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523143545/https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/1913.pdf | archive-date=May 23, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A scanned copy of the first 1040 form, from the US Library of Congress Blogs |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/law/files/2017/04/Historic-Form-1040-pg1-2.jpg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518090918/https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/04/the-first-form-1040/ |archive-date=May 18, 2023 |website=Library Of Congress}}</ref> and shows that only those with annual incomes of at least $3,000 ({{inflation|USD|3000|1913|fmt=eq|r=-2}}) were instructed to file an income tax return. In the first year after the ratification of the 16th Amendment, no taxes were collected. Instead, taxpayers simply completed the form and the IRS checked the form for accuracy. The IRS's workload jumped by ten-fold, triggering a massive restructuring. Professional tax collectors began to replace a system of "patronage" appointments. The IRS doubled its staff but was still processing 1917 returns in 1919.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tax.org/Museum/1901-1932.htm |title=1901–1932: The Income Tax Arrives |publisher=Tax.org |date=April 14, 1906 |access-date=August 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814150842/http://www.tax.org/museum/1901-1932.htm |archive-date=August 14, 2010 }}</ref> Income tax raised much of the money required to finance the war effort; in 1918 a new Revenue Act established a top tax rate of 77%. [[File:1920 tax forms IRS.jpg|thumb|left|People filing tax forms in 1920]] In 1919 the IRS was tasked with enforcement of laws relating to [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition of alcohol sales and manufacture]]; this was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice in 1930. After repeal in 1933, the IRS resumed collection of taxes on beverage alcohol.<ref name=IRSHL>{{cite web|url=https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/historical-highlights-of-the-irs |title=Historical highlights of the IRS|access-date=October 6, 2017}}</ref> The alcohol, tobacco and firearms activities of the bureau were segregated into the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]] in 1972. A [[Revenue Act of 1942|new tax act was passed in 1942]] as the United States entered the [[World War II|Second World War]]. This act included a special wartime surcharge. The number of American citizens who paid income tax increased from about four million in 1939 to more than forty-two million by 1945.<ref>{{cite book |first=JoAnn A. |last=Grote |title=The Internal Revenue Service |publisher=Infobase Publishing |date=2001 |isbn=0-7910-5989-8 |page=43}}</ref> In 1952, after a series of politically damaging incidents of [[tax evasion]] and bribery among its own employees, the Bureau of Internal Revenue was reorganized under a plan put forward by [[Harry S. Truman|President Truman]], with the approval of Congress. The reorganization decentralized many functions to new district offices which replaced the collector's offices. Civil service directors were appointed to replace the politically appointed collectors of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Not long after, the bureau was renamed the Internal Revenue Service.<ref>{{citation-attribution|1={{cite web|url= https://www.governmentattic.org/5docs/IRS-HistoricalFactBook_1992.pdf |title=IRS Historical Fact Book: A Chronology. 1646–1992. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service |website=governmentattic.org}} }}</ref> In 1954 the filing deadline was moved from March 15 to April 15. The [[Tax Reform Act of 1969]] created the [[Alternative minimum tax|Alternative Minimum Tax]]. By 1986, limited electronic filing of tax returns was possible. The [[Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998]] ("RRA 98") changed the organization from geographically oriented to an organization based on four operating divisions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/iereports/2010reports/2010IER002fr.html|title=Treasury Reports|website=www.treasury.gov}}</ref> It added "10 deadly sins" that require immediate termination of IRS employees found to have committed certain misconduct.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govexec.com/federal-news/2002/04/irs-10-deadly-sins-to-remain-deadly/11424/|title=IRS' 10 deadly sins to remain deadly|website=Government Executive}}</ref> Enforcement activities declined. The [[IRS Oversight Board]] noted that the decline in enforcement activities has "rais[ed] questions about tax compliance and fairness to the vast majority of citizens who pay all their taxes".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jct.gov/x-33-01.pdf |title=Report of the Joint Committee on Taxation Relating to the Internal Revenue Service as Required by the IRS Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (JCX-33-01) |publisher=Joint Committee on Taxation |date=May 4, 2001 |access-date=October 20, 2018 |archive-date=November 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113041739/http://www.jct.gov/x-33-01.pdf }}</ref> In June 2012, the IRS Oversight Board recommended to Treasury a fiscal year 2014 budget of $13.074{{spaces}}billion for the Internal Revenue Service.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.treasury.gov/IRSOB/reports/Documents/IRSOB_FY14%20IRS%20Budget_Web061413.pdf |title=FY2014 IRS Budget Recommendation Special Report |publisher=IRS Oversight Board |date=May 2013 |access-date=March 3, 2022}}</ref> On December 20, 2017, Congress passed the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017]]. It was signed into law by President Trump on December 22, 2017. In the three decades since 1991, the IRS had a substantial decrease in the number of employees per million residents, decreasing from 451 (in 1991) to 237 (in 2021).<ref>{{cite web |title=IRS workforce over time |url=https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/fiscal-fact/irs-workforce-over-time |date=July 4, 2022 |website=[[Tax Policy Center]] |access-date=May 29, 2023 |language=en }}</ref> A decrease of {{Percentage | (451-237) | 451 | 1 | % = percent }}. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page