The Tax History Project recently added Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s tax returns to its collection of presidential tax returns. Also on the site are returns for George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon. In addition, Richard Cheney, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain are included. The first thing we noticed on Roosevelt’s 1913 return (PDF) was how short the instruction section was. 1913 was the first year of the modern federal individual income tax, and taxes certainly have become more complicated in the ensuing 95 years. To see a plain copy of the original 1913 form, click here.
