Editing Poll tax (section)

==United States==

===Poll tax===
{{main|Poll taxes in the United States}}
[[File:PollTaxRecieptJefferson1917.JPG|right|thumb|upright=1.15|Receipt for payment of poll tax, [[Jefferson Parish, Louisiana]], 1917 (the $1 tax has the purchasing power of ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|1|1917|r=0}}}} today)]]

Prior to the mid 20th century, a poll tax was implemented in some U.S. state and local jurisdictions and paying it was a requirement before one could exercise one's [[Voting rights in the United States|right to vote]]. After this right was extended to all races by the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth Amendment]] to the Constitution, many Southern states enacted poll taxes as a means of excluding African-American voters, most of whom were poor and unable to pay a tax. So as not to disenfranchise many whites, such laws sometimes included a clause exempting any people who had voted prior to enactment of the laws.<ref>{{cite web |title=Guinn & Beal v. United States, 238 U.S. 347 (1915) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/238/347/ |website=Justia}}</ref> The poll tax, along with [[literacy tests]] and extra-legal intimidation,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.crmvet.org/info/lithome.htm | title=Civil Rights Movement – Literacy Tests & Voter Applications | access-date=19 October 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116022837/http://www.crmvet.org/info/lithome.htm | archive-date=16 November 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref> such as by the [[Ku Klux Klan]], achieved the desired effect of [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era|disenfranchising African Americans]].

Generally, in the United States, the term "poll tax" is used to mean a tax that must be paid in order to vote, rather than a capitation tax simply. For example, a bill that passed the Florida House of Representatives in April 2019 has been compared to a poll tax because it requires former felons to pay all "financial obligations" related to their sentence, including court fines, fees, and judgments, before their voting rights will be restored as required by a referendum that passed with 64% of the vote in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theroot.com/is-this-the-new-poll-tax-florida-house-passes-bill-req-1834301084|title=Is This the New Poll Tax? Florida House Passes Bill Requiring Former Felons to Pay Up Before They Can Vote|last=Judge|first=Monique|website=The Root|date=25 April 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/11/07/665031366/over-a-million-florida-ex-felons-win-right-to-vote-with-amendment-4|title=Over 1 Million Florida Felons Win Right To Vote With Amendment 4|website=NPR.org|date=7 November 2018|language=en|access-date=2019-04-25|last1=Mak|first1=Tim}}</ref>

The [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-fourth Amendment]], ratified in 1964, prohibits both [[US Congress|Congress]] and the [[State legislature (United States)|states]] from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or any other type of tax. Poll taxes for State and local elections were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in ''[[Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections]]''.

===Capitation and federal taxation===
{{Main|Taxation in the United States}}

The [[Article One of the United States Constitution#Limits on Congress|ninth section]] of Article One of the Constitution places several limits on Congress' powers. Among them: "No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken". Capitation here means a tax of a uniform, fixed amount per taxpayer.<ref name="US State Dept constitution">{{cite web
 |last         = United States Department of State
 |author-link  = United States Department of State
 |year         = 2004
 |url          = http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/constitution/constitution.htm
 |title        = The Constitution of the United States of America with Explanatory Notes
 |work         = US Department of State web site
 |publisher    = United States
 |access-date  = 18 May 2008
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080514004923/http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/constitution/constitution.htm
 |archive-date = 14 May 2008
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>  [[Direct tax]] means a tax levied directly by the United States [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] on taxpayers, as opposed to a tax on events or transactions.<ref name="US Treasury Factsheet on Tax System">{{cite web
 |last        = United States Department of the Treasury
 |author-link  = United States Department of the Treasury
 |url         = http://www.treasury.gov/education/fact-sheets/taxes/ustax.shtml
 |title       = History of the U.S. Tax System
 |work        = US Treasury Department : Education : Fact Sheets : Taxes
 |publisher   = United States
 |access-date  = 4 August 2009
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20101127050245/http://www.treasury.gov/education/fact-sheets/taxes/ustax.shtml
 |archive-date = 27 November 2010
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref> The United States government levied direct taxes from time to time during the 18th and early 19th centuries. It levied direct taxes on the owners of houses, land, slaves and estates in the late 1790s but cancelled the taxes in 1802.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

An income tax is neither a poll tax nor a capitation, as the amount of tax will vary from person to person, depending on each person's income. Until a United States Supreme Court decision in 1895, all income taxes were deemed to be excises (i.e., indirect taxes). The [[Revenue Act of 1861]] established the first [[income tax]] in the United States, to pay for the cost of the [[American Civil War]]. This income tax was abolished after the war, in 1872. Another income tax statute in 1894 was overturned in ''[[Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.]]'' in 1895, where the [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] held that income taxes on income from property, such as rent income, interest income, and dividend income (however excepting income taxes on income from "occupations and labor" if only for the reason of not having been challenged in the case, "We have considered the act only in respect of the tax on income derived from real estate, and from invested personal property") were to be treated as direct taxes. Because the statute in question had not apportioned income taxes on income from property by population, the statute was ruled unconstitutional. Finally, [[ratification]] of the [[Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] in 1913 made possible modern income taxes, by limiting the Sixteenth Amendment income tax to the class of indirect excises (i.e. excises, duties, and imposts) – thus requiring no apportionment,<ref name="BRUSHABER v. UNION PACIFIC R. CO., 240 U.S. 1 (1916)">{{cite web
  | url       = http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=240&invol=1
  | title     = BRUSHABER v. UNION PACIFIC R. CO., 240 U.S. 1 (1916)
  | publisher = FindLaw
  | work      = FindLaw : Supreme Court
}}</ref>
<ref name="STANTON v. BALTIC MINING CO, 240 U.S. 103 (1916)">{{cite web
  | url       = http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=240&invol=103
  | title     = STANTON v. BALTIC MINING CO, 240 U.S. 103 (1916)
  | publisher = FindLaw
  | work      = FindLaw : Supreme Court
}}</ref> a practice that would remain unchanged into the 21st century.

===Employment-based head taxes===
Various cities, including [[Chicago]] and [[Denver]], have levied head taxes with a set rate per employee targeted at large employers.<ref>{{cite news |date=9 May 2018 |title=Seattle head tax: How 2 other big cities fared |url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-head-tax-how-2-other-big-cities-fared/281-550670446 |publisher=[[KING-TV|KING 5]] |access-date=12 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Seattle backs new tax on largest companies, including Amazon|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/14/seattle-city-councils-new-tax-on-companies-including-amazon.html|access-date=15 May 2018|work=CNBC|agency=Reuters|date=15 May 2018|quote=The head tax approved on Monday is not the first. Denver has enacted a similar tax, and Chicago had one but repealed it. Seattle itself had a head tax in effect from 2006 to 2009}}</ref> After Cupertino postponed head tax proposals to 2020, Mountain View became the only city in Silicon Valley to continue to pursue such type of taxes.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sarwari |first=Khalida |date=1 August 2018 |title=Cupertino shelves proposed 'head tax' on Apple employees for now |work=The Mercury News |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/07/31/cupertino-shelves-proposed-head-tax-on-apple-employees-for-now/ |access-date=2 August 2018 |quote=The council's 4–0 decision to wait until 2020 before putting the tax proposal before voters leaves Mountain View as the only Silicon Valley city proceeding with the so-called head tax this year.}}</ref>

In 2018, the [[Seattle]] city council proposed a "[[Seattle head tax|head tax]]" of $500 per year per employee.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lee |first=Jessica |date=10 May 2018 |title=How did we get here? A look back on Seattle's head-tax plan and Amazon's response |work=Seattle Times |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/how-did-we-get-here-a-look-back-on-seattles-head-tax-plan-and-amazons-response/ |access-date=11 May 2018 |quote=The Seattle Times has reported on the so-called "head tax" proposal}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Seattle head tax 101: What to know about the proposal|url=http://mynorthwest.com/983563/seattle-head-tax-101/|access-date=11 May 2018|work=MyNorthwest|quote=The Seattle had tax proposal is an employee hours tax}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=NEW SEATTLE HEAD TAX PROPOSAL SETS UP POTENTIAL CLASH IN COUNCIL MEETING TODAY|url=https://www.king5.com/amp/article?section=news&subsection=politics&headline=new-seattle-head-tax-proposal-sets-up-potential-clash-in-council-meeting-today&contentId=281-551101996|access-date=11 May 2018|work=KING 5|date=11 May 2018|quote=A new proposal to Seattle City Council's controversial head tax legislation could bring a compromise}}</ref> The proposed tax was lowered to $275 per year per employee, was passed, and became "the biggest head tax in U.S. history,"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Daniels |first=Chris |last2=Brand |first2=Natalie |date=14 May 2018 |title=Seattle Mayor Durkan vows to sign head tax compromise |work=[[KGW]] |url=https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-mayor-durkan-vows-to-sign-head-tax-compromise/281-551930021 |access-date=15 May 2018 |quote=The head tax is the largest in U.S. history}}</ref> though it was repealed less than a month later.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Eric M. |date=2018-06-12 |title=Seattle City Council repeals 'head tax' weeks after enactment |language= |work=Reuters |url=https://jp.reuters.com/article/us-seattle-tax-idUSKBN1J82UB |access-date=2023-06-23}}</ref>