Editing Poll tax (section)

===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]]''.