Judge — November 6, 1909 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes the newly enacted federal income tax (ratified in 1913, but proposed earlier). A distressed figure labeled "Common People" stands at a tax collection booth marked "PAY HERE," confronted with a notice explaining that anyone earning $1,200+ annually must file and pay income tax. The cartoon criticizes the income tax as burdensome to ordinary workers, depicting the tax collector's office as an intimidating bureaucratic structure. The exaggerated, worried expression on the common person's face emphasizes the perceived injustice of the tax requirement. The caption "It's a Give-Up Tax, not an Income Tax" suggests the satirist views the tax as confiscatory—essentially forcing citizens to surrender their earnings rather than fairly taxing income.