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A poll tax is a tax of a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Various privileges of citizenship, including voter registration or issuance of driving licenses and resident hunting and fishing licenses, were conditioned on payment of poll taxes to encourage the collection of this tax revenue.
In principle, poll taxes were adopted to ensure that eligible voters had sufficient financial independence to prove they were qualified and their vote could not be bought. [7] In practice, they were often used to disenfranchise blacks and poor whites, [2] in order to maintain supportive constituencies for business and political interests. [8]
Proponents of the poll tax downplayed this aspect and assured white voters they would not be affected. Passage of poll taxes began in earnest in the 1890s, as Democrats wanted to prevent another Populist-Republican coalition. Despite election violence and fraud, African Americans were still winning numerous local seats.
The poll tax mechanism varied on a state-by-state basis; in Alabama, the poll tax was cumulative, meaning that a man had to pay all poll taxes due from the age of twenty-one onward in order to vote. In other states, poll taxes had to be paid for several years before being eligible to vote. Enforcement of poll tax laws was patchy.
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Capitation taxes, also known as poll taxes, were initially created in the 1890s. Poll taxes are a fixed tax on individuals, regardless of income; voters must pay the tax before they are permitted to cast a ballot. These taxes were occasionally paired with literacy tests to prove qualification to vote. [3] Revenue from poll taxes acted as a ...
Forssenius the Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes or "equivalent or milder substitutes" cannot be imposed on voters. [citation needed] 1966. Tax payment and wealth requirements for voting in state elections are prohibited by the Supreme Court in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections. [25] The poll tax would remain on the books, unenforceable ...
The Texas poll tax "required otherwise eligible voters to pay between $1.50 and $1.75 to register to vote – a lot of money at the time, and a big barrier to the working classes and poor". [60] Georgia created a cumulative poll tax requirement in 1877: men of any race 21 to 60 years of age had to pay a sum of money for every year from the time ...