Q 01/05

Since 1955, US Tax Day has typically fallen on or just after which date?

A) April 1

B) April 15

C) March 15

D) May 1

Answer · why

B) April 15

April 15 has been the federal filing deadline since 1955; it slips to the next business day when the 15th falls on a weekend or a Washington, DC holid...

Q 02/05

When federal income tax began in 1913, what was the filing deadline?

A) January 31

B) March 1

C) March 15

D) April 15

Answer · why

B) March 1

March 1 was the deadline set by the 1913 Revenue Act, so the first Form 1040 returns were due on 1 March 1914.

Q 03/05

Which amendment, ratified in 1913, let Congress tax incomes without apportioning by state population?

A) Fourteenth

B) Eighteenth

C) Sixteenth

D) Twenty-first

Answer · why

C) Sixteenth

It overturned the Supreme Court's 1895 Pollock decision, which had struck down an earlier income tax.

Q 04/05

Which 1895 Supreme Court case struck down the federal income tax?

A) Marbury v. Madison

B) McCulloch v. Maryland

C) Plessy v. Ferguson

D) Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust

Answer · why

D) Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust

Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust (1895) held that taxing income from property (rents, dividends, interest) was a direct tax that had to be apportioned...

Q 05/05

The first US federal income tax was introduced in 1861 to fund what?

A) The Civil War

B) The Louisiana Purchase

C) The transcontinental railroad

D) The War of 1812

Answer · why

A) The Civil War

The Civil War: the Revenue Act of 1861, signed by Abraham Lincoln that August, created the first federal income tax to pay for the Union war effort.