History of Tax in Timeline

By Popular Timelines Editorial Team · Updated: April 4, 2026

Tax is a mandatory financial charge levied by a government on individuals or entities to fund public spending and regulate economic activity. Compliance involves ensuring accurate and timely tax payments. The earliest known taxation dates back to Ancient Egypt (3000-2800 BC). Taxes can be direct or indirect and are paid in money or labor.

1920: Pigou's Tax Suggestion

In 1920, Arthur Pigou suggested a tax to deal with externalities, aiming to reduce environmental impact by repricing, addressing what economists describe as negative externalities.

1920: Publication of "The Economics of Welfare"

In 1920, Arthur Pigou wrote about the Pigovian tax in his book "The Economics of Welfare".

1982: Rothbard's Argument on Taxation as Theft

In 1982, Murray Rothbard argued in "The Ethics of Liberty" that taxation is theft and tax resistance is therefore legitimate.

1986: Stagnation of Income Tax Revenue in India

In India, since 1986, increases in exemptions led to the stagnation of income tax revenue at around 0.5% of GDP.

2008: Tax Revenue Progress in Resource-Rich Countries

In 2008, resource-rich countries made the most progress, rising from 10% in the mid-1990s to around 17%. Non-resource-rich countries made some progress, with average tax revenues increasing from 10% to 15% over the same period.

2009: Bush's Proposal to Reduce Inefficient Programs

In his 2009 budget, President George W. Bush proposed "to terminate or reduce 151 discretionary programs" which were inefficient or ineffective.

February 2010: IRS Forms and Regulations in the US

As of February 1, 2010, the IRS in the United States had about 1,177 forms and instructions, 28.4111 megabytes of Internal Revenue Code containing 3.8 million words, multiple tax regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations, and supplementary material in the Internal Revenue Bulletin.

2011: Decline of Trade Taxes Globally

The global trend shows that trade taxes have been declining as a proportion of total revenues since 2011 (IMF), with the share of revenue shifting away from border trade taxes towards domestically levied sales taxes on goods and services.

2016: Taxation as Percentage of GDP

In 2016, taxation as a percentage of GDP was 45.9% in Denmark, 45.3% in France, 33.2% in the United Kingdom, 26% in the United States, and averaged 34.3% among all OECD members.

2019: Impact of Tax Cuts on Employment Growth

A 2019 study found that tax cuts for low-income groups had the greatest positive impact on employment growth, while tax cuts for the wealthiest top 10% had a small impact.