Commemorating the 16th Amendment

Sunday, February 3, 2013, marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which authorizes Congress to levy a federal income tax. The Amendment states simply, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." Efforts to enact a federal tax on income began much earlier, however, with the need to finance the Civil War; the Supreme Court had declared an 1894 federal income tax law unconstitutional in 1895. The 16th Amendment had the effect of reversing that decision.
We list here links to some of the more history-based resources and articles generated by the anniversary:

The Amendment
Form 1040, 1913
Library of Congress, History of the [U.S.] Income Tax
U.S. House of Representatives Historical Highlights
Our Documents (National Archives)
Revenue Act, 1861
Civil War Bureau of Internal Revenue (Tax History Project)
Wilson-Gorham Tariff Act, 1894
Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co.
The Case
Analysis
"Guess What Turned 100 This Weekend?" (Forbes)
"Many Unhappy Returns" (Wall Street Journal)
The Income Tax Arrives (Tax History Museum)
U.S. Federal Income Tax Rates, 1913-2013 (Tax Foundation)
History News Network on the anniversary

Digital Collection: Princeton Exhibit of Subway Posters

The Princeton University Library has digitized a number of posters from the Interborough Rapid Transit Subway Company . The posters, designed by the public relations firm Ivy Lee, were displayed in subway cars to provide information to riders about changes in fares and routes, safety issues, and other matters of interest. The collection consists of 385 images dating from 1918 to 1932; many of them provide financial information about rates, company dividends, and a general look at an early rapid transit system. October 29, update: Jonathan Rees over at "More or Less Bunk" was moved by this post to go off in search of a better site, and found the massive collection of the London Transport Museum , which displays over 5,000 items in a searchable collection .

The Exchange has moved to the BHC's website

Dear members subscribers of The Exchange The Exchange, the weblog of the BHC, is now part of our website ( https://thebhc.org ). We migrated the blog to serve our membership and interested parties best since Blogger is discontinuing its email service. Note that this will be the last message we will send from Blogger . The Exchange was founded by Pat Denault over a decade ago, and it has become an essential channel for announcements from and about the BHC and from our subscribers and members. Announcements from The Exchange will come up on the News section of our website as they did before. However, if you wish to receive these announcements via email, and you have not done so yet, please subscribe to The Exchange by: Going to our website's homepage ( https://thebhc.org ), s crolling down to the end of the page, and clicking on "Subscribe to the Latest BHC News." Or go to the “News” section of our website's homepage ( https://thebhc.org/ ), and click on...

Wilfried Feldenkirchen (1947-2010)

With sadness we report the death of longtime BHC member Wilfried Feldenkirchen. He died in a car accident on June 21, 2010, while test driving a replica of Siemens' 1905 electric car, the Victoria , a project for which he was the manager. He was professor of economic, social, and business history in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. A former trustee of the BHC and a member of the editorial board of Enterprise & Society , Professor Dr. Feldenkirchen specialized in nineteenth- and twentieth-century corporate and financial history, focusing particularly on Siemens. In addition to numerous articles and essays, his works include: The Banks and the Steel Industry in the Ruhr: Developments in Relations from 1874 to 1914 (1981) Werner von Siemens: Inventor and International Entrepreneur (1994) Siemens, 1918-1945 (1999) Siemens: From Workshop to Global Player (2000) "Vom Guten das Beste": Von Daimler und Be...

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