Surtax

A surtax may be a tax levied upon a tax, or a tax levied upon income. A surtax may be a tax levied upon a tax, or a tax levied upon income. In 1929, Supertax (which had been introduced in the Finance Act 1909 at the rate of 6 old pence in the pound (2.5%) on incomes over £5,000 per year) was renamed Sur-tax. By 1934, the rate was variable from 1 shilling to 7 shillings and sixpence in the pound (5% to 37.5%). It was replaced by income tax in 1973. Previous examples of a broadly levied surtax in the United States include one imposed to help finance the Vietnam War during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. It essentially consisted of calculating one's ordinary federal income tax liability and then adding another 10% to it, the amount of the surtax. As the US income tax system at the time was highly progressive, the surtax was much higher on those with higher incomes, as a 10% surtax imposed on a tax rate of 20% would result in an overall rate of 22%, and the same surtax imposed on a rate of 50% would result in an overall rate of 55%. Some antiwar protesters refused to pay the tax and stated that while they were not anarchists and understood the need for and positive role played by government in many areas, they wanted none of their tax money going to a war that they felt was immoral. The surtax was repealed well before the war ended in Vietnam.