Home > Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Amendment XVI (the Sixteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution, authorizing income taxes in their present form, was ratified on February 3, 1913. It states:
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
1 Interpretation and history
The Income Tax Act of 1894 attempted to impose a federal tax of 2% on incomes over $4,000. Derided by its opponents as "communistic", it was challenged in federal court. In the case of
Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895), the Supreme Court declared it to be an unconstitutional "direct tax", forbidden by Article I of the Constitution unless apportioned by population. Such apportionment was impractical for income taxes, since the rates would have to be set differently in different states depending on their population and total incomes. In response, this amendment was passed in order to make federal income taxes constitutional.
In Brushaber v. Union Pacific R. Co., (1916), the Supreme Court ruled that the amendment created a narrow exception, into which only taxes on income from all sources could fit. All other taxes must still pass the "direct taxes must be apportioned" test of Article I. It also ruled that the Amendment was not retroactive.
Some Americans who object to income taxes claim that the Sixteenth Amendment was never properly ratified. The best-known proponent of this claim is Bill Benson , author of the book The Law That Never Was .
In spite of the questionable ratification of the 16th amendment, the amendment was certified in 1913 making it part of the Constitution. Federal courts have rejected appeals based on these claims, and some now consider them "frivolous" claims that are subject to sanctionSanction is an interesting word, in that, depending on context, it can have diametrically opposing meanings. Words like this are called contronyms. A judge may "sanction" a party during a legal proceeding, by which it is meant that he imposes sanctions (.
A strong libertarianThis article deals with the libertarianism as defined in America and several other nations. For a discussion of the meaning of the term libertarian that is traditional in Europe, see libertarian socialism. For the use of the term "libertarianism" in the p viewpoint proposes the existence of a natural right to enjoy all the fruits of one's own labor (previously protected, they claim, by the Ninth AmendmentAmendment IX (the Ninth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, states: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. The Ninth). Taxation is an infringement on that right, and this Amendment was a major expansion of the taxing power of the federal government.
2 External links
Amendment 16 U.S. economic history
