HIST 192 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: United States Constitution, Direct Tax, Internal Debt
Document Summary
As part of the compromises that led to the adoption of the united states constitution in. 1789, the new federal government agreed to assume the revolutionary war debts of the. In early 1791, to help pay off the resulting national debt, congress used its new constitutional authority to "lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises" and passed the first nationwide internal revenue tax an excise tax on distilled spirits. Congress took this action at the urging of the first secretary of the treasury, alexander. Unlike tariffs paid on goods imported into the united states, the excise tax on distilled spirits was a direct tax on americans who produced whiskey and other alcohol spirits. The 1791 excise law set a varying six to 18-cent per gallon tax rate, with smaller distillers often paying more than twice per gallon what larger producers paid (http://www. ttb. gov).
