2. Peasants/Serfs Slaves
Tax history for more than 2,500 years has focused on two significant issues: who pays and what is taxed. For most of human history, taxes were paid by the poor—peasants, slaves, colonists, or conquered peoples—to support the government and the wealthy classes.
Taxation as the responsibility of free citizens is a modern concept that originated with the emergence of constitutional governments—first in England and later in the United States and Western Europe.

3. Taxes of any kind—except those imposed by the church—had little place in the rural, feudal system of the Middle Ages. Kings and nobles made their livings from land held directly or through payments from those who worked the land

4. As the social system of the Middle Ages broke up, land became the primary source of wealth—and therefore of taxation. In France the annual taille was a tax levied on estimated farm income. In England land taxes were first based on area but later on annual rental value. In the British North American colonies, the English land tax system was broadened into a property tax whose base included land, houses, personal property, and the earning capacity of the individuals who owned the land.

5. Rebellion against oppressive tax systems played a major role in both the American and French revolutions. The subsequent establishment of representative democracies—along with the modern ideal of social justice—helped to bring about the reform of tax systems.

6. Rebellion against oppressive tax systems played a major role in both the American and French revolutions. The subsequent establishment of representative democracies—along with the modern ideal of social justice—helped to bring about the reform of tax systems.

7. The emergence of the modern economic system—with all of its varied sources of income and wealth—also led to the more uniform system of taxing income directly.

8. In the United States an income tax was used as a temporary measure during the American Civil War. In 1894 the income tax was again enacted, but it was later declared unconstitutional, necessitating an amendment, which was adopted in 1913.