The Revenue Act of 1862, formally cited as Act of July 1, 1862, Ch. CXIX, 12 Stat. 432, was passed by the United States Congress during the American Civil War and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. The law established the first federal income tax in United States history.

Income between $800 and $10,000 was taxed at a 3 percent rate. Higher income was taxed at a 5 percent rate.

The income tax was to be withheld by the employer.

A permanent tax collection agency and the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue were established.

Though it was not challenged in court until after the Civil War, the imposition of an income tax was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., prior to the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913.

Inflation-adjusted numbers

Tax Acts of the United States | 1862 in law