In my first paragraph, I mentioned that nearly everything was taxed. I did not have space to suggest that such an omnivorous style of taxation was a reflection on how desperate Congress was to meet the expenses of the war. How appalled people would be today if they were required to pay taxes on all the things that were taxed in 1865. People were taxed, for example, on their watches. Granted, there was no sales tax on watches. But a sales tax is a one-shot deal. In the 1860s, people had to pay a tax on their watches (and other items) every year. (The first tax act passed in 1862; the war taxes weren’t completely repealed until 1873.) Today that would be unthinkable. Could it be that people were more willing to let the government spend their money than they are today? Or did they accept the taxes as a means of ending the war? I\u00ac\u2020 cannot help but wonder if there was resistance to these taxes.<\/p>\n

To add insult to injury, the government required taxpayers to put a value on the property that was subject to tax and submit their \u201a\u00c4\u00f2returns\u201a\u00c4\u00f4 to the assessors, who would then have the responsibility to determine if those returns were accurate. This legislation passed by the 38th Congress was quite complicated, especially for merchants and manufacturers. It must have provided many jobs, not only for collectors and assessors and their assistants, but for lawyers and others who might help taxpayers figure out how to put a value on their property. It appears they did not have the help of accountants since that occupation was not listed in the Revenue Act. (However, there was a fail-safe provision in the Act (Sec. 79) requiring that all trades or professions that produced an income over $1000 had to pay a license fee of $10.)<\/p>\n

Considering how high the demand was for able-bodied men to fight the war, it seems unwise to pass laws requiring so many people to work behind government desks rather than on the battlefield. But then, without that revenue, the government could not support those men on the battlefield.<\/p>\n