5 Presidents Who Raised Taxes the Most, and 5 Who Lowered Them

 Rob Poindexter   Tue, March 21, 2023

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed by President Trump, was the most recent major overhaul to the IRS tax code. The legislation lowered taxes for 65% of American households, according to Kiplinger, by nearly doubling the standard deduction from $6,500 to $12,000 for individual filers. However, the legislation was criticized for favoring corporations and wealthy taxpayers at the expense of middle class and low-income households.

While Trump was the president who changed the tax code most recently, he was hardly the first. America revolted from the British, in part, because of the tax burden the crown placed on its colonies — and everyone still loves to hate paying taxes. The United States has bills too though, and tax revenue pays them.

In America’s early history, there was no official federal income tax at all, and it stayed that way throughout much of the 19th century. In fact, it took a constitutional amendment to authorize Congress to collect revenue through taxation. That didn’t happen until 1913, just before Europe’s last great empires fought to the death in World War I, clearing the path for the upstart U.S. to become a superpower — and superpowers need tax revenue.

Since then, taxes have gone up, down, up and then down again, and the only thing most American citizens could agree on along the way was that they were paying too much. In honor of that on this Presidents’ Day, let’s meet the five presidents who raised taxes the most — and five who lowered them.

The Most Tax-Raising US Presidents

Abraham Lincoln, 1861-65

The original taxer-in-chief was none other than Abraham Lincoln, who levied the very first national income tax in American history through the Revenue Act of 1861. The government collected a 3% tax on income over $800 to pay for the Civil War. On July 1, 1862, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was created and authorized to enforce collection. Congress repealed the tax in 1871.

Woodrow Wilson, 1913-21

In 1895, the Supreme Court struck down the federal income tax as unconstitutional, but in 1913, the 16th Amendment authorized Congress to collect revenue from taxpayers nationwide. It was the birth of the modern income tax.

 Later that same year, President Wilson signed legislation that authorized the first income tax of the 20th century, which affected about 3% of taxpayers. Individuals would pay a tax of 1% on any income they earned over $3,000.

Herbert Hoover, 1929-1933

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