Steven Semeraro Archives - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by Steven Semeraro

Filibuster Rules and Filibuster Norms

April 17, 2021 05:43:16 pm

The filibuster debate has focused on whether the rule facilitates or stifles negotiation and compromise. Of course, the rule – that 60 votes are required to end debate – doesn’t do either. It’s the norms that those subject to the rule adopt that matter. When I was younger, it seemed, Congress adhered to a norm [...]

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Suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt born

Carrie Chapman Catt, suffragist, womens' rights advocate and co-founder of the League of Women Voters, was born on January 9, 1859.

Visit the Carrie Chapman Catt Childhood Home.

Great Britain's first income tax introduced

On January 9, 1799, British Prime Minister William Pitt introduced Great Britain's first income tax. The tax was announced the previous December as a means of raising money for war against Napoleon. Pitt's successor, Henry Addington, repealed the tax when hostilities subsided in 1802. Addington then reinstated the tax during the following year when fighting was renewed. The Addington tax model later became the model for the modern British income tax. Learn about the history of income taxation in Great Britain from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs.