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The "View now" link directs to the finding aid only. Please email wvrhcref@westvirginia.libanswers.com or call 304-293-3536 for more information about accessing collection A & M 0585 Monongalia County Land and Legal Papers, ca. 1783-1859. Includes grants for land in Monongalia County to James Calbreath, assignee of Joseph Tidball; William Austin, assignee of Thomas Laidley; Samuel Hanway; and Zackquil Morgan, signed by governors Henry Lee, James Monroe and James Barbour

Original drawing of a man holding up a large plane labeled "SST" while another man in worn clothing labeled "Taxpayer" crouches out of the way.

Original drawing of a man holding a briefcase labeled "Big Labor" while being struck by a pendulum clock.

Original drawing of two giant arms and hands, with sleeve cuffs labeled "Tax", "Laws", are feeding individuals into a pasta press. One man laying in the middle of the press is holding a briefcase labeled "Congress."

Original drawing of two congressmen exchanging money, one states "Here's your salary boost, Senator. Sorry it wasn't more." the other replies "It's okay, congressman. Too many people were watching. Here's yours."

Original drawing of two wolves, one is labeled "Proposed New Congressional Pay Raise", next to a skeleton labeled "Tax-Payer."

A tree branch, labeled "Tax Boost", is cut off and nailed to the trunk. The stump of the branch is labeled "Tax Cut."

Original drawing of U.S. President Ronald Reagan sitting down between a man dressed as a bottle labeled: "Old Repeal", "50 Years Old", "100 Proof" and a box labeled "Cost of Law 'Enforcement'" that is feeding dollar bills into the M1919 Browning machine gun he is using to target planes above him, one of which is labeled "Dope Traffic."

Original drawing of a large arm ("Tax Cut") dropping a coin into the open palm of a man in tattered clothes, another arm ("Fuel Prices") has its hand inserted into his coat pocket.

Original drawing of a man speaking to an audience, presumably all are IRS agents, behind him is a bulletin board titled "I.R.S. School" and a portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt labeled "FDR 100 YRS."

Original drawing of a man in patched-up clothing holding an ice cream cone (lower taxes) and sitting on top of a small army tank (adequate defense).

Original drawing of a man showing a paper to an IRS officer regarding taxes.

Original drawing of Lyndon Johnson holding a pill in his right hand and a pill jar (labeled "tax increase") in his left hand. Behind him on a shelf are two other pill jars labeled "Viet Pullout" and "Domestic Spending Cut."

Abraham Lincoln signed into law the first national income tax on August 5, 1861. Since 1913, the content of the Internal Revenue Code has increased from the 27-page tax law of that year to over 5000 pages today. As time has passed and the length of this document has increased, so has the expense and complexity of abiding by its statutes. The inefficiencies of the current system indicate that something must be done about the United States tax system, but no one has agreed on what to do. Many proposals to correct the problem have been brought forward over the years, and those proposals need to be studied and analyzed to find the one that is best for America and its people. The results of the analysis indicate that the FairTax would best suit the needs of the United States government and its people.

Why does personal income taxation remain relatively low in many developing countries despite a period of democratic advancement and rapid economic growth? This stylized fact is hard to reconcile with standard political economy models of taxation that expect democratic regimes to bring about redistribution under high inequality contexts. This paper argues that the details of political institutions are key to understanding why personal income taxation remains low in many developing and unequal countries. In particular, we show how legislative malapportionment enables rich elites to have a disproportionate influence on politics relative to their numbers, and serves as a tool to preserve their economic interests in a democracy. Because over-represented districts tend to be dominated by parties aligned with the elite, these groups are able to block attempts at introducing progressive taxes in the legislative arena. Based on a sample of more than 50 countries (including 17 across Latin America) between 1990 and 2007 this paper finds that i) countries with historically more unequal distributions of wealth and income tend to systematically present higher levels of legislative malapportionment, and ii) higher levels of malapportionment are associated with lower shares of personal income taxes in GDP.