[jackfoxy]

> how have we always just accepted the lack of personal privacy when it comes to finance?

It was very easy. The American public was hoodwinked into accepting the 16th Amendment (levying an income tax) as a tax the rich scheme. And like all tax the rich schemes it was a cover to tax everyone, especially the middle class. You can't have an income tax without the government prying into everyone's finances.

Before this financial privacy was the norm.

[CryptoPunk]

The income tax was first introduced in the UK, in 1799, to fund a war against France, and the rate was only 10%, and only levied on the rich.

The first American income tax was also introduced in a war - the Civil War.

[jackfoxy]

IIRC the US Supreme Court declared the Civil War era income tax unconstitutional, which is why it required a constitutional amendment.

[bluGill]

No, they said the tax on capital gains was unconstitutional. An income tax itself was allowed, they only tossed out the whole law because it was obvious that the tax code they ruled unconstitutional wouldn't make sense without the capital gains tax parts.