America Had No Income Tax Until 1913 —
This Is How Government Got Paid Before That! The Federal Observer
America didn’t always have an income tax. For most of U.S. history, the federal government ran without taking a cut of your paycheck – yet it still funded wars, built institutions, paid officials, and expanded across a continent.
So where did the money come from?
In this video, we break down the real pre-1913 revenue machine: the tariff system that turned ports into cash registers, the excise taxes hidden inside everyday goods, the “internal revenue” enforcement that targeted entire industries, and the stamp taxes that quietly made paperwork profitable. And then we show what changed in 1913 – why the system flipped, who pushed for it, and how the new model rewired American government forever.
If you’ve ever wondered how America functioned before income tax… this is the missing chapter.
It has been said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it! My first broadcast on World Wide Christian Radio was on June 28, 1995. Since that time, I have attempted to address the problems and the future of this nation in a manner that was unique from others who were, and are still, broadcasting on the ‘alternative media.’ My broadcasts have utilized historical, biblical and the financial knowledge which I have attained over six-decades on this earth – to get the message regarding the plans of the now and future “rulers” of the world – across to both knowledgeable and uninformed Americans alike.
I can think of no simpler way to describe The Federal Observer, but with the words of the great Patrick Henry of Virginia:
“It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.”
America didn’t always have an income tax. For most of U.S. history, the federal government ran without taking a cut of your paycheck – yet it still funded wars, built institutions, paid officials, and expanded across a continent.