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Our next tax trivia question is:
Who was President of the US when the first federal estate tax was adopted?
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Tax Trivia: Death Taxes
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmm, it could be two different ones, depending on the day it was enacted, In July, it would have to be John Adams.
George W Bush – 43rd President
William McKinley
Wilson?
The first estate tax was enacted July 6, 1797 during John Adams presidency.
The modern federal estate tax, in its earliest form, dates back to 1916. Woodrow Wilson was president. The revenue measure was sustained against constitutional challenge in New York Trust Co. v. Eisner, 256 U.S. 345 (1921). However, a federal stamp tax on legacies and shares in intestate estates was first adopted in 1797, while John Adams was president, but repealed in 1802. The Civil War federal inheritance tax was repealed in 1870. The federal income tax of 1894 was held unconstitutional in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co., 157 U.S. 429 (1895). A federal graduated inheritance tax adopted in 1898 was repealed in 1902, but its validity was sustained in Knowlton v. Moore, 178 U.S. 41 (1900). The federal estate tax of 1916 precipitated the federal gift tax.
Just to be clear, Woodrow Wilson was president when the first federal estate tax was enacted under the Revenue Act of 1916. The prior taxes — The Death Stamp Tax, 1789-1802; the Civil War Inheritance Taxes, 1862-1870; Income Tax on Gifts and Inheritance, 1894; Modified Estate Tax, 1898-1902 — were death, inheritance and gift taxes. Although the War Revenue Act of 1898 imposed a death tax similar to the modern estate tax, it was repealed in 1902.
Woodrow wilson was president when the first federal estate tax was enacted under the Revenue Act of 1916.
The War Revenue Act of 1898 imposed a death tax in order to raise revenues to finance the Spanish-American War. It was a modified estate tax. William McKinley was president when this tax was enacted.
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William McKinley
J. Summer, All first time comments are held in moderation until I approve them. I get a lot of spammers.
Bobby is correct! The bill was proposed under Washington and enacted under Adams. It was short-lived.
The Stamp Tax of 1797 imposed a tax:
1, On inventories of the effects of deceased persons, ten cents.
2, On receipts for legacies, or shares of personal estate, where the sum is above $50 and not exceeding $100, twenty-five cents; more than $100 and not exceeding $500, fifty cents; for every further sum above $500, a dollar. Not to extend to wives, children or grandchildren.
3, On probates of wills, and letters of administration, fifty cents.