Bush tax cuts in war go against history--All but one major U.S. conflict led to tax increases

To help pay for the War of 1812, Congress enacted excise taxes, sales taxes and a requirement that states raise property taxes and forward the money to the federal government.

During the Civil War, in addition to imposing the first inheritance and income taxes, the government raised business taxes and taxes on spirits and tobacco and imposed higher tariffs. The principles of tax withholding, mortgage deductions and the rich paying at a higher rate than the poor were established then.

Many of the tax complications that exist today, like the distinctions between gross and net income, between earned and unearned income and between regular income and capital gains, first appeared during the Civil War.

To help pay for the Spanish-American War, excise and inheritance taxes and tariffs were raised. During World War I, the personal income tax and taxes on corporate profits were increased dramatically. The first permanent estate tax was enacted, and taxes were imposed on the production of munitions.

Federal spending during World War II rose to 43.6 percent of the national economy in 1943, from 9.8 percent in 1940. In addition to expanding the income tax so that it became a broad tax on most households, the government increased the corporate tax and excise taxes, created a 5 percent ‘‘victory tax’’ to be repaid in a tax credit after the war, and raised to 90 percent what was called an excess profits tax on companies. In the Korean War, income tax rates were raised to the levels of World War II, and a new excess profits tax was enacted.

The 10 percent surcharge on personal and corporate income taxes imposed during the Vietnam War resulted in a budget surplus in 1969, the last until 1998. Taxes were not increased during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, but that was the year the tax increases of 1990 first took effect.

In many cases, a motive for raising taxes in wartime has been to respond to some sense of shared sacrifice and head off criticism that poor soldiers were fighting a rich man’s war. In that regard as well, Bush is breaking with history. He believes the best way to improve the economy for everyone, including in wartime, is to cut the taxes of the most affluent. He is not concerned with equalizing sacrifice.

Major Bush donors are profiting off of increased oil prices and other Bush donors will profit from

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