1. YIKES!
The war was costing about a 1,000,000 dollars a day by 1917

2. Total War Costs Money!
The Costs of the war very quickly overcame the government’s ability to pay
Gov’ts can only do two things to pay for things:
A) raise taxes
B) borrow
So, they had to do BOTH!

3. Income Tax!

4. Victory Bonds

5. A bond is a loan – citizens bought Victory Bonds and the government promised to pay them back (with interest) after the war

6. Buying Victory Bonds was considered by many a duty, especially for those who could not join in the war effort itself by enlisting