Antonio Nieto
Mario Maestas
Katie Balliett
October 26, 2014
Period 6

Progressive Era Research Project
The 16th Amendment The U.S. Congress controls this reform. The 16th amendment gives the government authority to collect and levy income taxes. This reform was ratified to be a graduated income tax method. This meaning that instead of the government asking for a set amount from each citizen, they ask for a set percentage. With this method, lower class population pays less tax than high class residents of the U.S. This reform is necessary to the United States because it is a more fair way to collect taxes. One of the problems that the United States had before this reform was ratified was that people of lower income were paying too much tax. For instance, if the government wanted
$30,000 from each citizen, then people that are making $40,000 a year would be giving the government 75% of their annual salary. With the 16th amendment in effect, those who make
$30,000 a year paying 10% annual taxes, would only pay $3,000 in taxes. Those that make $1
Million dollars a year would be taxed $100,000. This reform was necessary for public service funds. Policemen, Firefighters, EMT’s, etc. use the tax money to help provide us with safety and the sense of security. The U.S. government made this change possible by adding it to the United States
Constitution. The governments intention by passing this reform was to even out everyone’s contributions to the U.S. One might argue that this type of reform was to be ratified not by the
Legislature but by the people of America. This reform solved the issue of unfair taxing among the United States population. This reform obviously worked well because it is still in use today. This reform had