History
| Tax year | Deduction amount |
|---|---|
| 1987 | $1,900 |
| 1988 | $1,950 |
| 1989 | $2,000 |
| 1990 | $2,050 |
| 1991 | $2,150 |
| 1992 | $2,300 |
| 1993 | $2,350 |
| 1994 | $2,450 |
| 1995 | $2,500 |
| 1996 | $2,550 |
| 1997 | $2,650 |
| 1998 | $2,700 |
| 1999 | $2,750 |
| Tax year | Deduction amount |
|---|---|
| 2000 | $2,800 |
| 2001 | $2,900 |
| 2002 | $3,000 |
| 2003 | $3,050 |
| 2004 | $3,100 |
| 2005 | $3,200 |
| 2006 | $3,300 |
| 2007 | $3,400 |
| 2008 | $3,500 |
| 2009 | $3,650 |
| 2010 | $3,650 |
| 2011 | $3,700 |
| 2012 | $3,800 |
The personal exemption amount in 1894 was $4,000 ($80,000 in 2005 dollars). That tax was declared unconstitutional in 1895. The tax in its present form which began around 1913 had a personal exemption amount of $3,000 ($57,000 in 2005 dollars), or $4,000 for married couples.
Over time the amount of the exemption has increased and decreased depending on political policy and the need for tax revenue. Since the Depression, the exemption has increased steadily, but not enough to keep up with inflation. Despite the intent of the exemption, the amounts are also less than half of the poverty line.
The exemption amounts for years 1987 through 2012 are as shown at right.
The exemption amounts for years 1913 through 2006 are available at http://taxfoundation.org/article/federal-individual-income-tax-exemptions-and-treatment-dividends-1913-2006.
Read more about this topic: Personal Exemption (United States)
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—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“The history of work has been, in part, the history of the worker’s body. Production depended on what the body could accomplish with strength and skill. Techniques that improve output have been driven by a general desire to decrease the pain of labor as well as by employers’ intentions to escape dependency upon that knowledge which only the sentient laboring body could provide.”
—Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)
“What we call National-Socialism is the poisonous perversion of ideas which have a long history in German intellectual life.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)