Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

1913 amendment

The Sixteenth Amendment in the National Archives

The Sixteenth Amendment ( Amendment XVI) to the United States Constitution allows Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states on the basis of population. It was passed by Congress in 1909 in response to the 1895 Supreme Court case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. The Sixteenth Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states on February 3, 1913, and effectively overruled the Supreme Court's ruling in Pollock.

Prior to the early 20th century, most federal revenue came from tariffs rather than taxes, although Congress had often imposed excise taxes on various goods. The Revenue Act of 1861 had introduced the first federal income tax, but that tax was repealed in 1872. During the late nineteenth century, various groups, including the Populist Party, favored the establishment of a progressive income tax at the federal level. These groups believed that tariffs unfairly taxed the poor, and they favored using the income tax to shift the tax burden onto wealthier individuals. The 1894 Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act contained an income tax provision, but the tax was struck down by the Supreme Court in the case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. In its ruling, the Supreme Court did not hold that all federal income taxes were unconstitutional, but rather held that income taxes on rents, dividends, and interest were direct taxes and thus had to be apportioned among the states on the basis of population.

For several years after Pollock, Congress did not attempt to implement another income tax, largely because of concerns that the Supreme Court would strike down any attempt to levy an income tax. In 1909, during the debate over the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act, Congress proposed the Sixteenth Amendment to the states. Though conservative Republican leaders had initially expected that the amendment would not be ratified, a coalition of Democrats, progressive Republicans, and other groups ensured that the necessary number of states ratified the amendment. Shortly after the amendment was ratified, Congress imposed a federal income tax with the Revenue Act of 1913. The Supreme Court upheld that income tax in the 1916 case of Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., and the federal government has continued to levy an income tax since 1913.

Critics of the Sixteenth Amendment have argued that it enables expansive federal government spending and facilitates central banking policies, with some, including Congressman Ron Paul, calling for its repeal on these and related grounds.[1][2]

Ratification

According to the United States Government Publishing Office, the following states ratified the amendment:[39]

1. Alabama: August 10, 1909
2. Kentucky: February 8, 1910
3. South Carolina: February 19, 1910
4. Illinois: March 1, 1910
5. Mississippi: March 7, 1910
6. Oklahoma: March 10, 1910
7. Maryland: April 8, 1910
8. Georgia: August 3, 1910
9. Texas: August 16, 1910
10. Ohio: January 19, 1911
11. Idaho: January 20, 1911
12. Oregon: January 23, 1911
13. Washington: January 26, 1911
14. Montana: January 27, 1911
15. Indiana: January 30, 1911
16. California: January 31, 1911
17. Nevada: January 31, 1911
18. South Dakota: February 1, 1911
19. Nebraska: February 9, 1911
20. North Carolina: February 11, 1911
21. Colorado: February 15, 1911
22. North Dakota: February 17, 1911
23. Michigan: February 23, 1911
24. Iowa: February 24, 1911
25. Kansas: March 2, 1911
26. Missouri: March 16, 1911
27. Maine: March 31, 1911
28. Tennessee: April 7, 1911
29. Arkansas: April 22, 1911, after having previously rejected the amendment
30. Wisconsin: May 16, 1911
31. New York: July 12, 1911
32. Arizona: April 3, 1912
33. Minnesota: June 11, 1912
34. Louisiana: June 28, 1912
35. West Virginia: January 31, 1913
36. Delaware: February 3, 1913

Comic depicting the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment[40]

Ratification (by the requisite 36 states) was completed on February 3,