Tuesday Open Lines


Debate about income tax rates ebbs and flows through the years, but has been especially heated during this presidential election year.  Federal income taxes have been around since 1913, when the 16th Amendment to the Constitution gave Congress the right to levy such taxes.  The first year, fewer than 360,000 returns were filed.  Now, some 142.5 million returns are submitted annually.  For those who don’t like to compute their own taxes, there are nearly 112,000 tax preparation offices around the nation.  Of these, close to 87,000 are single person businesses.  We spend nearly $7 billion a year to have our taxes prepared.  You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.


Discuss and more on today’s Open Lines!