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Turns out that someone has already challenged the Portland tax as unconstitutional, and a judge has already ruled that it's not a head tax because some people (people without earned income and people with earned income below poverty level).
Is this a good decision or is it judicial activism, a politicql decision?
It that is true, there is so much slop out there in cyberspace. Wikipedia, for example gives examples of head/poll taxes with exemptions (e.g. the Roman Empire had a head tax from which Roman citizens were exempt; the poor are exempt from the "jizya" in Shari'a law). Other examples of head taxes with exemptions can be found online.
So what kind of nitwit would write a constitutional provision that prohibits a universal fixed tax but magically makes a fixed tax okay if it's something less than universal? Would a liberal or a conservative write that?
Consider a fixed tax with an exemption for those with income below poverty level:
If you're above poverty level, you pay a flat x dollars. A person making $50K pays x dollars and someone making $1 million pays the same x dollars. If you're below poverty level, you are exempt.
Some people call that a head tax and some people say it isn't. What do you think?
It's a head tax except for that poverty exemption.
An actual head tax has no such exemption - EVERYBODY pays the same dollar amount.
Note that such a tax was the ONLY personal tax allowed under the Constitution when it was written. All other taxes had to be excise taxes (taxes on items such as wheat, liquor, rubber, gasoline etc.), duties (taxes on things imported or exported), and I think a few other things.
The ratification of the 16th amendment changed this, and allowed taxes on incomes for the first time in American history. (actually the govt tried to impose income taxes during the Civil War, but they were struck down as unconstitutional.)
In the original Constitution, it said that any personal taxes (called "direct taxes") must be sent to the government by the states (not by the people), and the amount must be proportional to the population of the state. That's a Head Tax.
It that is true, there is so much slop out there in cyberspace. Wikipedia, for example gives examples of head/poll taxes with exemptions (e.g. the Roman Empire had a head tax from which Roman citizens were exempt; the poor are exempt from the "jizya" in Shari'a law). Other examples of head taxes with exemptions can be found online.
A head tax is a head tax, period. There are no exceptions. Just like a capitation rate is a capitation rate (health insurance, look it up). No exceptions. Wikipedia can call them whatever they want but unless everyone is charged, they're not head taxes. A poll tax is not a head tax.
It's a head tax except for that poverty exemption.
An actual head tax has no such exemption - EVERYBODY pays the same dollar amount.
Note that such a tax was the ONLY personal tax allowed under the Constitution when it was written. All other taxes had to be excise taxes (taxes on items such as wheat, liquor, rubber, gasoline etc.), duties (taxes on things imported or exported), and I think a few other things.
The ratification of the 16th amendment changed this, and allowed taxes on incomes for the first time in American history. (actually the govt tried to impose income taxes during the Civil War, but they were struck down as unconstitutional.)
In the original Constitution, it said that any personal taxes (called "direct taxes") must be sent to the government by the states (not by the people), and the amount must be proportional to the population of the state. That's a Head Tax.
Thanks...as I read the original Constitution (pre-16th), the states had to submit the tax but didn't they have complete discretion as to how it was levied?
And how did slaves figure into a state's tax obligation? Were slaves counted as "1" for taxes, "3/5", or some other number?
So is there a name for a "fixed sum tax with exemptions"?
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