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Taxes raise a lot of questions: How do I pay my taxes? Why did tax day change this year? And most importantly: Can I deduct that 15-pound tub of body oil? Erin (@erincmccarthy) isn't an accountant, but she'll touch on those questions and more in our list of 25 fascinating tax facts.
We'll dive into the history of taxes, and tell you about the first tax on record. We'll discuss some of the weirdest taxes ever, like the beard tax imposed by Peter the Great. And we'll mention some celebrities (and at least one transcendentalist writer) who got in trouble for not paying taxes.
For some more tax info that they didn't cover in school, check out our list of 8 Tax Terms You Need To Know: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/76819/8-tax-terms-you-need-know
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2025 Mental Floss
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0:00
Did you know that a former IRS commissioner was sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion
0:04
Hi, I'm Erin McCarthy, editor-in-chief of MentalFloss.com, and welcome to The List Show
0:08
from my living room. In 1952, Joseph Noonan, who was the IRS commissioner from 1944 to 1947, was busted for evading
0:15
over $90,000 in taxes. Among the transactions that he failed to claim was $1,800 in winnings from wager that Harry
0:21
Truman would beat Thomas Dewey in the presidential election of 1948. And that's just the first of 25 tax facts that I'm going to share with you today
0:29
All of which will be way more interesting than working on your own taxes, I promise
0:41
So speaking of tax evasion, you probably know that mob boss Al Capone was ultimately taken
0:46
down over his taxes instead of any of his other involvement with crime
0:49
You may even know that Willie Nelson made a whole album just to help cover his massive
0:53
tax debts. It was called the IRS tapes, and all the proceeds went to the IRS
0:58
But did you know that Henry David Thoreau went to jail in 1846 for failing to pay taxes
1:02
It was a poll tax, which just means a tax levied on every individual, regardless of income
1:07
Poll taxes were once typical in much of New England. Paying the tax was typically a requisite to be able to vote, so they often functioned
1:13
as a form of de facto discrimination against poorer citizens. Thoreau's refusal to pay the poll tax was his way of protesting slavery
1:20
Some would pay the tax on Thoreau's behalf, however, and he was released the next morning
1:24
Enough about skirting taxes. Let's back up to the basics. Who had the bright idea for taxes anyway
1:30
Uh, thanks Horus. We can trace documented records of taxation all the way back to ancient Egypt, sometime
1:35
around 3000 to 2800 BCE. Apparently there was a biennial event called the Following of Horus, when the pharaoh went
1:42
around collecting taxes in his dual roles as head of state and living incarnation of
1:47
the god Horus. Taxation is even described in the Bible, when Joseph tells the people of Egypt to give a
1:51
fifth of their crops to pharaoh. Okay, who had the bright idea for federal income tax here in the states
1:57
Uh, thanks, Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln signed the Revenue Act in 1861, which imposed the first-ever federal
2:03
income tax. To drum up funds for the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress enacted a modest 3% tax on income
2:09
over $800, which would be roughly $23,000 today. The law was almost instantly replaced with a new Revenue Act, and would be repealed a
2:17
decade later, but the relief obviously didn't last. In 1913, the 16th Amendment established the federal income tax system we all know and
2:25
love today. But Lingard's income tax wasn't the first ever tax imposed in the US
2:31
Fans of the Broadway musical Hamilton probably remember the line, Imagine what gonna happen
2:35
when you try to tax our whiskey. What happened was the Whiskey Rebellion, which was largely due to a tax that A.H.M. imposed
2:42
on, you guessed it, whiskey. As you might imagine, people were extremely unhappy about it, especially small producers
2:48
of whiskey who, because of the way the tax was structured, had to pay 9 cents per gallon
2:52
in taxes, while larger producers were able to get as low as 6 cents. Some things never change
2:59
Violence quickly broke out. Tax officers were assaulted and tarred and feathered for trying
3:03
to do their jobs, and several people were killed during riots. The rebellion was eventually
3:08
quashed in 1794 and the whiskey tax remained in effect until 1802 when Thomas Jefferson repealed it Now why is Tax Day in the United States on April 15th at least in normal years
3:19
Well, it originally wasn't. When the modern federal income tax was established
3:24
lawmakers set March 1st as the looming deadline. Although they gave no reason for this particular
3:28
date, it was presumably to give people a couple of months to gather paperwork and crunch numbers
3:33
after the end of the year. By 1919, the government tacked a couple more weeks on to help panicked
3:38
filers, making March 15 the date. That date stood until 1955, after Congress acknowledged
3:44
that doing your taxes was getting more complicated by the year. To help accommodate all of these
3:48
changes and give people adequate time to file, the date was bumped by another month. But the
3:52
change wasn't entirely altruistic. The IRS acknowledged that the extra month would help
3:57
their employees as well, spreading the workload out across another 30 days. This year, as you
4:02
As you probably heard, the federal income tax deadline has been pushed back to July
4:05
15th in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount of time we spend doing our taxes every year suggests that the repeated date
4:12
changes may have been justified. According to the IRS, the average taxpayer spends about 11 hours doing record keeping
4:18
tax planning, form submission, and other super fun tax-related activities. Of course, if you break it down even further, the amount of time change is based on the
4:27
type of form the filers use. These filers spend about 20 hours, including 10 hours, on record-keeping alone. Ugh
4:35
While we're talking averages, the average American gets about $3,000 back from their
4:39
tax refund each year. This ebbs and flows a little bit every year, based on the economy, fluctuating consumer
4:45
incomes, and the IRS's withholding tables, which suggest how much employers should deduct
4:50
from employee paychecks to account for income tax. It's worth pointing out that a huge tax refund isn't necessarily a great goal
4:57
It basically means you gave the government an interest-free loan that year. And getting money back isn't just limited to personal taxes
5:03
Let's go all the way back to 1836, a year when the federal government had a tax surplus
5:08
in the neighborhood of $30 million. Congress gave most money back to the states, and each state was able to decide how to handle it
5:15
Maine decided to give back to the people, which meant that every single resident received a whopping $2
5:19
A woman named Salome Sellers used her money to buy a pair of fancy candlesticks
5:23
As she told the New York Tribune in 1902 when she was about to turn 101 years old, quote
5:28
Many people put their share of the surplus into flimsy finery, but I bought something
5:32
that would keep to remember those good times by. Today, those surplus sticks are in a museum
5:37
Isn't tax history fun? I've got some more for you. This one's from Russia, where in 1698, Peter the Great introduced a beard tax
5:45
After embarking upon what he called a Grand Embassy across Europe to observe more about
5:49
Western cultures and processes, Peter came back with a number of reforms designed to
5:54
bring Russia up to speed. And one of those reforms impacted facial hair. The Tsar noted
5:58
that modern Western Europeans eschewed beards, and he wanted to emulate the trend within
6:03
his own borders. If that doesn't seem strange enough, wait until you hear how he unveiled
6:07
his new anti-beard beliefs. At a big state reception, the Tsar whipped out a massive
6:11
barber's razor and proceeded to shave his guests' beards. Although Peter was originally
6:16
against beards entirely, he eventually decided to make money off of his ban by allowing facial
6:21
hair but taxing it Nobility and merchants were charged significantly more than commoners by the way I don know of any taxes on facial hair these days but unusual taxes still abound In England shelled nuts are subject to a 20 value tax And India
6:36
entertainment tax can be even worse. Movie tickets are taxed anywhere from 18% to 28
6:41
depending on the price of the tickets. This is actually an improvement. Before the government
6:45
launched the goods and services tax, it was left up to each state to set their own entertainment
6:49
tax. In jar-canned, the tax was 110%. And let's talk about the cow flatulence tax
6:56
Cow farts—well, really more like cow burps—are no laughing matter. The methane they produce
7:01
is contributing to climate change in a big way. To help offset some of these drawbacks
7:06
many EU countries are looking at introducing a cow tax to tax producers for cow flatulence
7:11
How about a special hat tax? From 1784 to 1811, British citizens had to pay a tax on
7:17
their hats. To prove they paid the tax, a stamp was pasted inside of the hat. If the
7:22
hat police caught you wearing a stampless hat, you'd be hit with a hefty fine
7:26
See McStream? It gets worse. In 1798, a man named John Collins was caught using a printing
7:32
press to forge the stamps, which would allow people to skirt the tax. He was sentenced
7:38
to death. There are always people who get creative with their tax deductions. While most don't
7:43
passed muster, the Tax Court, a court of law dedicated to tax-related disputes and issues
7:47
does occasionally find in favor of some pretty unusual claims. For example, TurboTax tells
7:53
the story of a professional bodybuilder who successfully claimed his supply of body oil
7:57
as a professional necessity. However, the court wasn't a total pushover. He also tried
8:02
to claim buffalo meat and vitamin supplements, which they nixed. Now I'm reconsidering writing
8:06
off that life-size cutout of Theodore Roosevelt, which I needed… for work
8:12
Do you live in New Mexico? Have you lived there for at least a century? Then I've got
8:16
great news for you. You don't have to pay state taxes. The land of enchantment provides
8:21
a major tax break to all centenarians. But considering there are only 80,100-plus year
8:26
olds in the entire United States, New Mexico isn't exactly losing out on major money
8:31
by providing this perk. The IRS is a notorious stickler for on-time filing, which no one knows better than Jack
8:37
Swigert, the command module pilot for Apollo 13 who joined the crew at the last minute
8:42
He was mid-mission when he realized he was going to miss the April 15th deadline, so
8:46
he radioed Houston to request an extension. Although the ground crew laughed at what they presumed was a joke, Swigert was dead serious
8:54
According to NASA transcripts, he said, quote, Hey listen, it ain't too funny
8:58
Things kind of happened real fast down there, and I do need an extension. I didn't get mine filed, and this is serious
9:04
This sort of thing happens more often than you might expect. In 2005, NASA astronaut Leroy Chow was commanding the 10th expedition to the International Space
9:11
Station when tax day reared its ugly head. He prevailed upon his sister and accountant
9:15
to file an extension on his behalf, and he got right on it when he returned to Earth on
9:20
April 24th. The President of the United States isn't exempt from taxes. In fact, the POTUS is expected
9:25
to pay their rightful share, though there are a few nice perks, including a non-taxable
9:30
travel account worth $100,000 and a non-taxable entertainment account with a $19,000 limit
9:35
Of course those policies can always change The IRS updates tax requirements on a regular basis and with the Reform Act of 1986 they started requiring taxpayers to list their dependent social security numbers for the first time When citizens were forced to provide this
9:49
evidence, several million children mysteriously disappeared from tax returns. As of 2018, only 10% of people were still filing paper tax returns. Not only does this
9:59
mean that those people will wait longer to get any refunds back, it also increases their
10:03
chances of screwing things up. Paper tax returns are around 40 times more likely to contain
10:08
mistakes compared to online filing. And since most of us are filing online now, here's
10:12
a great tip. There's a good chance you can file your taxes for free. If your adjusted
10:17
gross income is less than $69,000, you're eligible to use IRS Free File. 70% of filers
10:23
qualify, which works out to 100 million Americans. If your adjusted gross income is more than
10:28
$69,000, you can still use Free File, but it's not going to walk you through the process
10:33
step-by-step like the other version, so you have to feel pretty comfortable doing your taxes
10:37
One guy not comfortable with taxes, specifically with collecting them, was founding father
10:41
Sam Adams. Adams was elected to Boston's tax collector post in 1756, but he wasn't
10:47
terribly interested in the job. He was prone to overlooking tax debts from people having
10:51
financial or medical difficulties, which made him a bit like Robin Hood to working-class
10:55
Bostonians. The problem was, the tax collector was personally liable for uncollected taxes
11:01
And by 1765, Adams owed more than 8,000 pounds, equivalent to nearly 1.5 million pounds today
11:08
He did end up trying to go after some of the uncollected taxes, but apparently without
11:12
much success. According to the New England Historical Society, his well-to-do friends ended up covering most
11:17
of Adams' debt. Finally, let's talk about the time Vermont declared war on Germany for tax purposes
11:23
In the lead up to the United States entering World War II, Vermont lawmakers voted to give
11:27
residents serving in the military a $10 a month bonus. If the raise was instituted during peacetime, though, everyone would have been hit with a
11:34
new tax. In order to avoid it, the bonus needed to be issued during a time of armed conflict
11:40
War hadn't officially been declared yet, but President Franklin Roosevelt had issued
11:43
orders for the US Navy to shoot first if they came across German ships and waters necessary
11:48
for our defense. Vermont lawmakers decided that this order was enough for them to basically declare we were
11:53
at war with Germany in September 1941, three months before the United States did
11:58
Hey guys, before Aaron wraps things up, just wanted to share a quick message. Hello, my name is Justin. Welcome to my bathroom
12:05
You can see me on our show's Misconceptions in Food History, but if you happen to be watching this episode the week of April 15th, 2020
12:12
you can check me out this Friday when we go live for the premiere of our new series, Tub Trivia
12:18
It's kind of like pub trivia, but with one major difference. It's going to be super fun, so if you like trivia, make sure to check it out
12:26
Friday the 17th, 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, right here on the Mental Floss YouTube channel
12:31
Now, if you'll excuse me, I actually have to finish conditioning. Our next episode is about child-rearing tips from the 1800s. We had planned to film that
12:39
episode a while ago, but rearranged our schedule when the COVID-19 pandemic hit
12:43
On that note, if you have any lists you'd particularly like to see while you're quarantining, let us know in the comments. Also, feel free to take bets on when I'm
12:50
going to start cutting my own bangs. We'll see you soon
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