Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, Rediscovered.

Today, I have bad news, but I also have some helpful news. Okay, first the bad news. Today is

tax day. If you haven't filed your taxes yet, you might want to pause this episode and get to work.

But here's the helpful news.

If you find yourself cursing the IRS and all its rules and auditors and collectors,

I'm here to tell you who to blame. Abraham Lincoln. Yes, in addition to serving as the

country's first bearded president, Abraham Lincoln is remembered for many things.

He's renowned for his leadership during the Civil War and freeing the nation's slaves.

He founded land grant colleges.

And, well, he was the first commander-in-chief to be assassinated in office.

Given all that, perhaps there just hasn't been room in the country's collective memory to

recall his seminal role in creating the country's most despised and vilified government agency,

the Internal Revenue Service.

It was 1861. Lincoln was in a financial bind. Also, he was an award. To raise money to fight the Confederacy,

Lincoln pushed for and won passage of an income tax. A year or so later, perhaps because citizens

weren't exactly leaping at the opportunity to pay up, Lincoln established the IRS to collect what

was owed. Here's how it worked. People with incomes of less than $600 paid nothing.

People who made more than $800 but less than $10,000 paid a 3% tax.

Those with incomes above $10,000 paid a 5% tax.

Luxury taxes were also imposed on tobacco, whiskey, cattle stock, and other material and consumption

desires of the wealthy. Proposed taxes on watches, pianos, dogs, yes, dogs, never went anywhere.

Ultimately, Lincoln's tax was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1895. But historians say his

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