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A poll tax is a tax of a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Various privileges of citizenship, including voter registration or issuance of driving licenses and resident hunting and fishing licenses, were conditioned on payment of poll taxes to encourage the collection of this tax revenue.
The poll tax survived a legal challenge in the 1937 Supreme Court case Breedlove v. Suttles , which unanimously ruled that [The] privilege of voting is not derived from the United States, but is conferred by the state and, save as restrained by the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments and other provisions of the Federal Constitution, the state ...
The poll tax, along with literacy tests and extra-legal intimidation, [43] such as by the Ku Klux Klan, achieved the desired effect of 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.
Forssenius the Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes or "equivalent or milder substitutes" cannot be imposed on voters. [citation needed] 1966. Tax payment and wealth requirements for voting in state elections are prohibited by the Supreme Court in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections. [25] The poll tax would remain on the books, unenforceable ...
Poll taxes are a fixed tax on individuals, regardless of income; voters must pay the tax before they are permitted to cast a ballot. These taxes were occasionally paired with literacy tests to prove qualification to vote. [3] Revenue from poll taxes acted as a major source of funding for state governments.
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The poll tax mechanism varied on a state-by-state basis; in Alabama, the poll tax was cumulative, meaning that a man had to pay all poll taxes due from the age of twenty-one onward in order to vote. In other states, poll taxes had to be paid for several years before being eligible to vote. Enforcement of poll tax laws was patchy.