Aug 292002
Someone said a very bright man invented poker, but a genius invented chips. In the same way, a very bright man invented the income tax, but a genius invented withholding. How else could the government take an enormous chunk of your money and pose as Santa Claus at the same time? Radley Balko says enough.
The nameless genius who invented withholding actually has a name, Herbert Simon, in (I think) 1936.
This is wrong. An October 1913 income tax statute authorized "collection at the source," i.e., withholding. A pretty thorough history of the income tax and withholding in the United States can be found here. It’s unlikely that an idea like withholding, which is akin to paying for goods on the installment plan, would have a single author anyway. Besides, what I really want to know is who invented poker chips.