August 30 - Taxing the Rich

Labor History in 2:00 · Aug 30, 2026 · 1m

On this day in Labor History the years was 1935.

That was the day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Revenue Tax Act, more popularly known as the “Wealth Tax.”

The act reformed the federal income tax to raise rates on the wealthiest in the nation.

Those making over $5 million could pay taxes up to seventy-five percent.

In a speech to Congress that summer, Roosevelt had explained his thoughts on wealth and taxes.

The President said,

“Wealth in the modern world does not come merely from individual effort;

it results from a combination of individual effort and of the manifold…