Our Founding Fathers certainly never envisioned an income tax levied by the central government. One of Jefferson's best known remarks was "That government is best which governs the least..." They believed that the States would jealously guard their own liberties and stop any excessive taxes which at the time were only excise taxes (on commodities like whiskey and tobacco) and import/export duties.

It's interesting to note that it was import/export tariffs (1828, 1832) that led the country to the brink of war in 1832 (South Carolina nullified the Tarriff of Abominations and the Tariff of 1832.). The disproportionate burden these protectionist tariffs placed on the Southern farmer was a source of conflict for decades. It's estimated that prior to the War to prevent Southern Independence, the Southern States were paying 72 to 74% of all federal tax revenues. We can credit Lincoln for creating the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue in 1862...he needed $1.7 million a day to carry out his conquest of the South.

The United States Congress imposed an income tax temporarily to fund war debts on several occasions (1812-1816, 1861-1870) but by and large, the American resistance to tyranny was rapidly breaking down following Lincoln's war to prevent secession. According to Adam Young writing for the Mises Institute, there were 68 proposals from Congress to impose an income tax between 1874 and 1894. The income tax passed in 1893 was ruled unconstitutional. It was the 16th Amendment ratified in 1913 that authorized a permanent income tax. Young writes...