Hopefully most of you have completed and mailed your tax returns to Uncle Sam by now. Because of our renovation project (we don’t know where anything is!) we requested an extension. But I thought I’d share with you a piece of American history that might make you smile — or grimace, depending on how many forms you needed to complete this year.

In 1913, Wyoming ratified the 16th Amendment, providing the three-quarter majority of states necessary to amend the Constitution. The 16th Amendment gave Congress the authority to enact an income tax. That same year, the first Form 1040 appeared after Congress levied a 1 percent tax on net personal incomes above $3,000 with a 6 percent surtax on incomes of more than $500,000. My how times have changed.

The original form 1040, four pages long including one page of instructions, was a far cry from what we have to read, interpret and complete today to help assure that our government can fund its programs and “redistribute our wealth.” Take a look at the form (in pdf format) — I’d guess most folks completed theirs in short order — and dream of the good ol’ days.