Friday, October 28, 2011

Poll Tax is a Head Tax, or Capitation. . . Student then explains decapitation

By Douglas V. Gibbs

During last night's Constitution Class in Temecula we were discussing the 24th Amendment. The amendment disallows poll taxes, which had been employed in an effort to keep blacks from being able to vote in The South. I explained that poll taxes had already been prohibited at the federal level by Article I, Section 9. "A poll tax," I explained, "is a head tax, or capitation."

A couple of the attendees laughed at that last word and wondered allowed if it was related to "decapitation."

A gentleman in the back said allowed, "Decapitation? That's the income tax."

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

4 comments:

qwerty84 said...

Hi. It seems to me that your contention that a poll tax is necessarily disallowed by Art 1 Sect 9 is not technically correct for two reasons: 1) such a tax is prohibited ONLY if not apportioned & 2) limits on the power to collect this sort of tax applied to the federal government but not state gov't

qwerty84 said...

oops- scratch #2 (overlooked "at the federal level"), but I think #1 still applies

qwerty84 said...

PS: This issue has relevance to the debate over the Obamacare mandate

http://www.redstate.com/steven_willis/2010/03/24/of-constitutional-de-capitation/

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

a head tax is an individual tax, therefore there would be no apportionment.