The first Federal income tax

The first Federal income tax was imposed (under Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution) during the Civil War, then again in the 1890s, and again after the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified in 1913.

On August 1st, 1861 the U.S. Congress took up debate on a law that would create the first federal income tax. It set the rate at 3% for all incomes

The first federal income tax in American history actually preceded the Internal ... These taxes were not even collected until 1862

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You can not use any income tax records to track any ancestors before 1860 because there was no government income tax being imposed before that time.