History of Taxation
EGYPT During the various reins of the Egyptian Pharaohs tax collectors were known as scribes. During one period the scribes imposed a tax on cooking oil. To insure that citizens were not avoiding the cooking oil tax scribes would audit households to insure that appropriate amounts of cooking oil were consumed and that citizens were not using leavings generated by other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil.
GREECE In times of war the Athenians imposed a tax referred to as eisphora. No one was exempt from the tax which was used to pay for special wartime expenditures. The Greeks are one of the few societies that were able to rescind the tax once the emergency was over. When additional resources were gained by the war effort the resources were used to refund the tax. Athenians imposed a monthly poll tax on foreigners, people who did not have both an Athenian Mother and Father, of one drachma for men and a half drachma for women. The tax was referred to as metoikion
ROMAN EMPIRE The earliest taxes in Rome were customs duties on imports and exports called portoria.
GREAT BRITAIN The first tax assessed in England was during occupation by the Roman Empire.
COLONIAL AMERICA Colonists were paying taxes under the Molasses Act which was modified in 1764 to include import duties on foreign molasses, sugar, wine and other commodities. The new act was known as the Sugar Act. Because the Sugar Act did not raise substantial revenue amounts, the Stamp Act was added in 1765. The Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on all newspapers printed in the colonies and most commercial and legal documents.
POST-REVOLUTION AMERICA In 1794 Settlers west of the Alleghenies, in opposition to Alexander Hamilton's excise tax of 1791, started what is now known as the "Whiskey Rebellion" The excise tax was considered discriminatory and the settlers rioted against the tax collectors. President Washington eventually sent troops to quell the riots. Although two settlers were eventually convicted of treason, the President granted each a pardon. In 1798 Congress enacted the Federal Property Tax to pay for the expansion of the Army and Navy in the event of possible war with France. In the same year, John Fries began what is referred to as the "Fries Rebellion," in opposition to the new tax. No one was injured or killed in the insurrection and Fries was arrested for treason but eventually pardoned by President Adams in 1800. Surprisingly, Fries was the leader of a militia unit called out to suppress the "Whiskey Rebellion." The first income tax suggested in the United States was during the War of 1812. The tax was based on the British Tax Act of 1798 and applied progressive rates to income. The rates were .08% on income above £60 and 10 percent on income above £200. The tax was developed in 1814 but was never imposed because the treaty of Ghent was signed in 1815 ending hostilities and the need for additional revenue. The Tax Act of 1861 proposed that "there shall be levied, collected, and paid, upon annual income of every person residing in the U.S. whether derived from any kind of property, or from any professional trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere, or from any source whatever. The 1861 Tax Act was passed but never put in force. Rates under the Act were 3% on income above $800 and 5% on income of individuals living outside the U.S. The Tax Act of 1862 was passed and signed by President Lincoln July 1 1862. The rates were 3% on income above $600 and 5% on income above $10,000. The rent or rental value of your home could be deducted from income in determining the tax liability. The Commissioner of Revenue stated "The people of this country have accepted it with cheerfulness, to meet a temporary exigency, and it has excited no serious complaint in its administration." This acceptance was primarily due to the need for revenue to finance the Civil War. http://www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm

More than 1,000km from the event itself, Iceland's second volcanic eruption in the space of a month has caused flights in the UK to be grounded. Scientists and aviation authorities are continuing to monitor a plume of volcanic ash that is moving southwards over the UK. The entirety of UK airspace will be closed from noon on Thursday, April 15, National Air Traffic Services said: "No flights will be permitted in UK controlled airspace other than emergency situations." The eruption ejected the plume, which is made up of fine rock particles, up to 11km into the atmosphere. "This ash cloud is now drifting with the high altitude winds," said Dr David Rothery, a volcano researcher from the UK's Open University. "The main mass is over Scandinavia, but it is also over the north of Great Britain and is likely to spread south over the whole island by the end of [Thursday]." The plume is so high that it will neither be visible nor pose a threat to humans on the ground, although Dr Rothery added that we may have a "spectacularly red sunset" on Thursday evening. The major concern is that the ash could pose a very serious hazard to aircraft engines. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8621992.stm

The first three digits in a Social Security Number (SSN) are assigned by the geographical region in which the person was residing at the time he/she obtained a number. Generally, numbers were assigned beginning in the northeast and moving westward. So people on the east coast have the lowest numbers and those on the west coast have the highest numbers. The remaining six digits in the number are more or less randomly assigned and were organized to facilitate the early manual bookkeeping operations associated with the creation of Social Security in the 1930s. The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump-sum payments were made that same month. Regular ongoing monthly benefits started in January 1940. Find 29 Q & A at: http://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html

Get information at Social Security Online: http://www.ssa.gov/

List of all the area numbers for assigned social security numbers. The area number is the first three digits of the number. It generally depends on the recipient's state of residence when the number was issued. There are some exceptions, however, such as a set of numbers which were assigned to railroad employees prior to the 1970s. http://socialsecuritynumerology.com/prefixes.php

Group numbers represent the order in which SSNs for an area are assigned. They are issued in following order: odd numbers 01 to 09, even numbers 10 to 98, even numbers, 02 to 08, and odd numbers 11 to 99. 00 group numbers are never assigned. Group numbers allow you to determine relative chronological order of cards from the same region. Serial Numbers are assigned based on order as well. However, unlike group numbers, serial numbers are always assigned in a strictly increasing manner. 0000 is never assigned. See easy-to-read map at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~jpwms/mixednumbers/ssn.html

Not many people in the computer world remembered H. Edward Roberts (1941-2010) , not after he walked away from the industry more than three decades ago to become a country doctor in Georgia. Bill Gates remembered him, though. As Dr. Roberts lay dying in a hospital in Macon, Ga., suffering from pneumonia, Mr. Gates flew down to be at his bedside. Mr. Gates knew what many had forgotten: that Dr. Roberts had made an early and enduring contribution to modern computing. He created the MITS Altair, the first inexpensive general-purpose microcomputer, a device that could be programmed to do all manner of tasks. For that achievement, some historians say Dr. Roberts deserves to be recognized as the inventor of the personal computer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03roberts.html

The Week contest April 2, 2010
We asked you to come up with a reality show even more grotesquely compelling than France’s “Game of Death.”
THE WINNER: Cannibal: Are you the winner? Or dinner?
SECOND PLACE: Musical Electric Chairs
THIRD PLACE: The Bachelor: OJ Simpson See runners-up at: http://theweek.com/article/index/201503/The_Week_contest_Reality_Show__Apr_2_2010

Quotes about taxation
Today, it takes more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income. ~Alfred E. Neuman
It's income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta. ~Dave Barry
Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today. ~Herman Wouk
Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. ~Robert Heinlein
The United States has a system of taxation by confession. ~Hugo Black
What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue. ~Thomas Paine
Did you ever notice that when you put the words "The" and "IRS" together, it spells "THEIRS?" ~Author Unknown
Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt http://www.quotegarden.com/taxes.html