Our Ever-Changing TAX LAWS

Over the course of the 20th century, events and circumstances called for changes to the nation’s federal income tax laws. Some of the first big changes came in the 1930s and the 1940s. The Great Depression left people struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs required money. A 1935 law raised the top taxable rate to 75 percent for incomes greater than $5 million. At the same time, the law eased the tax burden for low-income groups. The law also had relatively high