What Was the Excise Tax on Disilled Spirits?
1 The Compromise of 1790 agreement resulted in the adoption of the United States Constitution in 1789. On August 4th, 1790, Congress passed an act agreeing to take responsibility for the Revolutionary Debts of 13 states.
2 In the act of trying to pay off this national debt, Congress used its new power and authority over the people to propose an excise tax to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises."This excise tax would become the first nationwide internal revenue and went into law in 1791. Unlike tariffs paid on goods that were imported into the United States, this excise tax was on distilled spirits and was a direct tax affecting Americans who manufactured whiskey and other alcoholic spirits. The tax varied, ranging from six to 18 cents per gallon of alcohol produced, with smaller distillers often having to pay more than twice as much per gallon than what larger producers paid.
1Dennis Wagner, "1791 George Washington - Whiskey Tax," State of the Union History, January 5, 2016, http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2016/01/1791-george-washington-whiskey-tax.html, Accessed November 25, 2024
2Micheal Hoover, "The Whiskey Rebellion," TTB Alchohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, January 9, 2020, https://www.ttb.gov/public-information/whiskey-rebellion#:~:text=The%201791%20excise%20law%20set,appointed%20for%20the%20distiller’s%20county, Accessed November 25, 2024