Fast fact: Before the 1894 Revenue Act, taxes were levied on the individual owners of businesses but not on the corporations themselves. Here's a look at how corporate taxes have evolved over the last 110 years.

1. Historical
Corporate
Tax Rates
19091% 191812%
TAFT WILSON
Taxes raised to
finance WWI
193615%
FDR
Hike revived
depresssion
196450%
LBJ
Implemented JFK’s
tax cut
197049.2%
NIXON
Recession
197946%
CARTER
Cut to offset high
interest rates
198740%
REAGAN
Tax Reform Act
198834%
REAGAN
Cut to fight recession
194240%
FDR
Hikes to pay for WWII
195038%
TRUMAN
Cut to fight recession
195238%
EISENHOWER
No cuts, despite 1953
and 1957 recessions
199335%
CLINTON
Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act
201821%
TRUMP
Tax Act goes into effect
192212.5%
HARDING
Lowered income tax
and raised corporate
192911%
HOOVER
Tax cut triggered stock
market crash
(Sources for Table: "Corporate Tax Rates 1909-2002," IRS.
"Corporate Tax Rate and Jobs," ProCon.org.)