The Emergency Internal Revenue Tax Act of 1914 was a United States temporary tax in response to

President Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Demo ...

calling for $100 million in additional Federal revenue in the event of war. The taxes instituted under this Act were initially set to expire on December 31, 1915; however, on December 17, 1915, Congress passed a

joint resolution In the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires passage by the Senate and the House of Representatives and is presented to the President for their approval or disapproval. Generally, there is no legal differ ...

that continued the taxes through December 31, 1916.

Taxes

The act taxed legacies and inherited

personal property property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be moved fr ...

on a graduated scale according to the size of the estate and the degree of relationship to the deceased (surviving husbands and wives received a general exemption). A maximum rate of 15% applied to bequests from estates valued over $1 million to distant relatives, non-relatives, or "bodies politic or corporate." The act also included an excise on receipts in excess of $200,000 assessed to firms in the petroleum and sugar refining industries. It raised stamp rates, and it placed a .01 cent tax on every

telephone call A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network A telephone network is a telecommunications network that connects telephones, which allows telephone calls between two or more parties, as well as newer features such as fax and interne ...

costing more than .15 cents, making it the 1st telephone tax in U.S. history.

References

United States federal taxation legislation History of taxation in the United States {{US-hist-stub