Planet Money Planet Money

The Carriage Tax (Update)

2024-06-26 00:00:00 +0000 UTC ·18m 46s ·by NPR
The Carriage Tax (Update)
Planet Money
0:00
--:--

About this episode

(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2019 .) In 1794, George Washington decided to raise money for the federal government by taxing the rich. He did it by putting a tax on horse-drawn carriages. The carriage tax could be considered the first federal wealth tax of the United States. It