IRS

Although we all hate taxes, we could not run the country without them! Taxes are one of the few ways a government stays stable, makes money, and keeps the money circulating. 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a department of the government that specializes in the enforcement of tax laws. The IRS is crucial for America to run well and independently. The IRS is needed to fund education, healthcare, construction, and the Military. Without taxation, the government would not have the resources to afford projects and support the residents. Medicaid and other insurances would not be impossible to have in place if the IRS did not exist.

How did the IRS even start?

In the beginning of America’s history, a part of Congress was first solely in charge of collecting taxes. According to the IRS Timeline On September 2, 1789, Congress implemented the “Department of the Treasury”and elected the popular at the time, Alexander Hamilton, as the first ever Secretary of the Department. Early in our country’s history, taxes were seen as too harsh by many people and a group of whiskey distillers being threatened of being arrested for not paying a whiskey tax was the last straw for many, sparking the Whiskey Rebellion. After the War of 1812, multiple taxes were implemented to recover from the war, creating the first ever income tax (The agency, its Mission and Statutory Authority). This first income tax was led to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue which was the predecessor of the IRS. The post War of 1812 taxes were later repealed. Later, during the Civil war, on July 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the second revenue measure of the Civil War, which levied internal taxes and established a permanent internal tax system (IRS at work - history of the IRS). Soon after, Congress officially created the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue under the Department of the Treasury and George S. Boutwell became the head of office, which officially made the IRS a part of the Department of Treasury and of America.