Federal Taxation Quotes
This Supreme Court opinion nullified the attempt to have a Federal Income Tax. The constitution allowed the Federal Government to collect import duties and that was essentially the only revenue source for the national government for over a century. If free trade were an objective, then customs duties would be lowered or eliminated and the Federal Govern lost the revenue. The only kind of direct tax that was allowed was a head tax in which every American paid the same tax. This was not a “flat tax” which means a tax where each person pays the same PERCENTAGE of income as tax. This meant that the richest person in the nation could only pay what the poorest could afford and therefore was impractical. It would take a constitutional amendment 18 years later—the 16th Amendment—to make the income tax legal. Many extremist anti-Federal government have refused to pay their income taxes and they argue that “The Supreme Court has declared the Income Tax illegal.” While that is so, after the 16th Amendment, the Court agreed that it was now constitutional. So the implication of unconstitutionality of the Federal Income Tax that the anti-tax forces have used was the law but has not been so since 1913. After that, it was and is perfectly legal and constitutional.
