Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Poll taxes are regressive, meaning the higher someone's income is, the lower the tax is as a proportion of income: for example, a $100 tax on an income of $10,000 is a 1% tax rate, while $100 tax on a $500 income is 20%. Its acceptance or "neutrality" depends on the balance between the tax demanded and the resources of the population.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
Before 1895, direct taxes were understood to be limited to "capitation or poll taxes" (Hylton v. United States) [41] and "taxes on lands and buildings, and general assessments, whether on the whole property of individuals or on their whole real or personal estate" (Springer v. United States). [42]
Guest opinion column author Paul Summers is a lawyer, a former appellate and senior judge, district attorney general, and Tennessee attorney general.
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment terminated the use of poll taxes in federal elections in 1964. Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia continued to utilize poll taxes for state elections until Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, a U.S. Supreme Court case held in 1966. The court ruled that capitation taxes enforced in state elections ...
In spite of growing discontent about the federal government in general, a surprising number of Americans say they're comfortable with the taxes they're paying, according to a Pew Research Center ...
The Internal Revenue Service administers all U.S. federal tax laws on domestic activities, except those taxes administered by TTB. IRS functions include: Processing federal tax returns (except TTB returns), including those for Social Security and other federal payroll taxes; Providing assistance to taxpayers in completing tax returns