Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act

Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act, U.S. legislation enacted in October 1913 that lowered average tariff rates from about 40 percent to about 27 percent and reintroduced a federal income tax. The legislation, which fulfilled a key plank in Woodrow Wilson’s 1912 presidential campaign, is named after Alabama Rep. Oscar W. Underwood, House majority leader and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and North Carolina Sen. Furnifold Simmons, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance.

Historical contest

Tariffs

Tariff rates fluctuated in the first half of the 19th century. Two examples were the Embargo Act (1807), which, among other restrictions, put punitive tariffs on the import of manufactured goods, and the Walker Tariff Act (1846), which significantly lowered tariffs and was a nod to Pres. James K. Polk’s support in the agrarian South. Tariffs thereafter stayed low until the Civil War (1861–65), when the Republican Party became ascendant. Republicans championed protective tariffs and controlled the presidency for all but 12 years between 1861 and 1913.

Income taxes

In 1862, to finance the Civil War, Pres. Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Congress enacted the country’s first income tax. It proved unpopular and was lowered in 1867 and repealed in 1872.

An income tax was reintroduced in 1894. In 1895, however, in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the income tax was unconstitutional because it breached the Constitution’s provision that direct taxes be apportioned to the states by population. The decision proved unpopular, and Democrats campaigned vigorously for a progressive income tax. Eventually, a constitutional amendment allowing an income tax (Sixteenth Amendment) was passed by Congress in July 1909 and ratified in February 1913.

The 1912 election

Though Democrats championed tariff reform, by 1908 even the Republican Party and its presidential nominee, William Howard Taft, were calling for lower tariffs. In 1909 Congress passed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, which only marginally lowered rates. Taft’s acquiescence to the bill lost him support among Republican progressives.

In 1912 Wilson, the Democratic presidential nominee, strongly favoured a progressive income tax and a reduction in tariffs—which represented about half of federal revenue in the early 20th century. The Republican Party was split. Taft was challenged by former Republican president Theodore Roosevelt, who lost the Republican nomination but ran a third-party campaign as a Bull Moose progressive. With Republican voters divided, Wilson won the election comfortably with only about 42 percent of the vote.

Passage

With Congress in Democratic control, Wilson and the Democrats moved quickly to enact their tariff and tax plans. The House passed its bill in May 1913 by a vote of 281–139. The path was more challenging in the Senate, but after sometimes rancorous hearings the upper chamber passed its version of the bill by a vote of 44–37 on September 9. Conferees reconciled the differences between the two versions, and the changes were adopted by the Senate and House on October 2 and October 3, respectively. Wilson signed the bill into law on October 3, 1913.

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

Key provisions

The legislation was a monumental victory for Wilson. The income tax provision hit about 2 percent of the population; it levied 1 percent on incomes above $3,000 for single filers ($4,000 for joint filers). The rate became progressively higher on incomes above $20,000, with a 6 percent rate on incomes above $500,000.

Average tariff rates were slashed from about 40 percent to about 27 percent. Many goods, including raw wool, cattle, sheep, wheat, eggs, meat products, iron ore, pig iron, coal, and lumber, were put on the “free list,” making them exempt from tariffs. Some rates were cut significantly. For example, yarn rates were cut from 79.56 percent to 18 percent, women’s and children’s dress goods from 99.7 percent to 35 percent, writing paper from about 45 percent to 25 percent, and horses from about 33 percent to 10 percent.

Impact

The effect of the Underwood-Simmons Act was immediate, with Americans paying significantly cheaper prices for goods. However, the overall impact is difficult to gauge. In 1914 Europe became engulfed in World War I. American imports dropped precipitously, whereas exports reached record highs. The U.S. trade surplus grew from about $541 million in 1914 to more than $4.4 billion in 1919. Declines in imports caused customs receipts to fall by about one-third after 1914.

Wilson won reelection narrowly in 1916, largely because he kept the United States from entering the war. Nevertheless, in April 1917 the United States officially declared war on Germany.

After the war, protectionist sentiment surged. Americans feared that European countries would take advantage of the lowered tariffs and dump goods into the country. When Republicans won back power in 1920, they moved to restore tariffs. The Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act (1922) brought the average tariff rate back to about 40 percent and gave the president authority to raise or lower tariffs by 50 percent.