Poll tax

“ Whether, as the State contends, the payment of the poll tax is also a reliable indicium of continuing residence need not be decided, for even if the poll tax has served such an evidentiary function, the confrontation of the federal voter with a requirement that he either continue to pay the customary poll tax or file a certificate of residence could not be sustained. For federal elections the poll tax, regardless of the services it performs, was abolished by the Twenty-fourth Amendment. ”

“ In the fact, therefore, that the poll tax touches directly every citizen and is an effective agency for awakening him to a sense of his political duties and responsibilities, and so better qualifies him for the exercise of the right of suffrage, is to be found the true reason for the incorporation of a small annual poll tax into every correct system of State taxation. ”

“ From many to fewer members of the privileged class, the mind advances easily, with no intrusive principle to block the way. If a poll tax of one dollar can be made a condition of voting regardless of ability to pay it, then why not ten or twenty? If a poll tax, why not a property tax, or wealth? If ability to interpret the Constitution, why not a college education? ”

“ The cumulative poll tax, which says you can't vote unless every poll tax since 1902 has been paid by the February before the election, the grandfather clause, giving votes to the southern slave-masters and not to the southern wage-slaves who make the state's wealth now, these have robbed you of your voice in the government. ”

“ To heavily tax men such as these is to drive them to despair, and that without producing the gain expected, for it is in most cases simply impossible for them to pay the taxes demanded. It seems to me that a poll-tax is, of all others, the worst, since it takes into no account the differences of station and wealth—to the rich the impost is trifling, to the poor it is crushing. ”

“ The tax will be a means of compelling vice to support the cause of virtue, and like the poll tax, will draw from the idle and dissolute, that contribution to the public service which they will not otherwise make. ”

“ A poll tax, which preconditions access to the polls on access to money, is wrong because it denies equal protection under the law. I put it to you that just as a poll tax is wrong, preconditioning access to primary legal materials on having a credit card is just as wrong, and it violates our rights to equal protection under the law. ”

“ Let it be proposed, in England, to lay a poll tax, or enter into any measure, that will injure one part and produce emoluments to another, intelligence will fly quickly as the rays of light to the people. They will instruct their representatives to oppose it, and will petition against it, and get it prevented or redressed instantly. ”

“ The Black Codes, which were adopted by the legislatures first convened under what has gone into history as the "Johnsonian" plan of reconstruction, were models of ingenious subterfuge. Among those which survived this period was the absurd notion of a somewhat onerous poll-tax. That a man who had been deprived of every benefit of government and of all means of self-support or acquisition, should at once be made the subject of taxation, and that a failure to list and pay such tax should be made an indictable offense, savored somewhat of the ludicrous. ”

“ For example, it is certainly a rational argument that payment of some minimal poll tax promotes civic responsibility, weeding out those who do not care enough about public affairs to pay $1.50 or thereabouts a year for the exercise of the franchise. ”

“ The Congress finds that the requirement of the payment of a poll tax as a precondition to voting (i) precludes persons of limited means from voting or imposes unreasonable financial hardship upon such persons as a precondition to their exercise of the franchise, (ii) does not bear a reasonable relationship to any legitimate State interest in the conduct of elections, and (iii) in some areas has the purpose or effect of denying persons the right to vote because of race or color. ”

“ Negroes are notoriously migratory, and a large proportion never remain two years in the same place. The poll tax could not be collected by legal process, and to pay the tax for two years, four dollars or more, eight months in advance of an election, seemed to the average negro to be rank extravagance. Moreover, few politicians are reckless enough to arrange for the payment of poll taxes in exchange for the promised delivery of votes eight months away, when half the would-be voters might be in another county, or even in another State. ”

“ By § 21 the poll tax must be paid at least six months prior to the election in which the voter seeks to vote. Since the time for election of state officials varies (Va.Code §§ 24-136, 24-160, 24 168; id., at § 24-22) , the six months' deadline will vary, election from election. The poll tax is often assessed along with the personal property tax. Those who do not pay a personal property tax are not assessed for a poll tax, it being their responsibility to take the initiative and request to be assessed. ”

“ The unjust poll-tax, which was then used in the public, county and parish levies, was an unending source of discontent. There can be no doubt that it bore with too great weight upon the poor people. "They complain," wrote Gyles Bland, on the eve of the Rebellion, "that great Taxes are imposed upon them every yeare, by wayes very unequall, Laying them very heavily, by the Poll, whereby the Poorer sort are in the hardest Condition." [450] It must be remembered, however, that many of the servants and slaves were listed as tithables, or persons subject to the poll tax. ”

“ Is there a rational basis for Virginia's poll tax as a voting qualification? I think the answer to that question is undoubtedly 'yes.' [5]
Property qualifications and poll taxes have been a traditional part of our political structure. In the Colonies the franchise was generally a restricted one. [6] Over the years these and other restrictions were gradually lifted, primarily because popular theories of political representation had changed. ”

“ Certainly it is rational to believe that people may be more likely to pay taxes if payment is a prerequisite to voting. And if history can be a factor in determining the 'rationality' of discrimination in a state law (which we held it could in Kotch v. River Port Pilot Comm'rs, supra) , then whatever may be our personal opinion, history is on the side of 'rationality' of the State's poll tax policy. Property qualifications existed in the Colonies and were continued by many States after the Constitution was adopted. ”

“ Thus the poor man paid only for himself and members of his family, while the rich man paid for his servants and slaves as well. The poll tax provided revenue, not only for the general government, but for the counties and parishes. ”

“ While possible by statutory declaration to levy a poll tax upon every inhabitant of whatsoever sex, age or condition, collection from all would be impossible for always there are many too poor to pay. ”

“ The law does not require the voter to swear to support the fugitive slave law, or the Kansas and Nebraska bill, unless he is challenged; in that case, he is required to take an oath to support each of these laws. As to the dollar law, [so called,] it is merely a poll-tax, and has no more connection with the right of suffrage than any other tax levied by the territorial authority, and is to be paid whether the party votes or not. ”

“ It is interesting to observe that Hamilton's argument in defense of the power to levy poll-taxes would have been much more effective if it had been urged in support of the power to levy a direct tax laid in proportion to wealth. But this [Pg 320] kind of a tax would, in the opinion of the framers, have placed too heavy a burden upon the well-to-do. Hence they were willing to deprive the general government of the power to levy it even at the risk of crippling it in some great emergency when there might be urgent need of a large revenue. ”

“ Persons under sixty years of age must also pay a poll tax of one dollar annually, on or before the 31st day of December, for two years next before the time of voting, and shall exhibit such poll tax receipt for two years to the election officer at the polls. ”

“ The penalty for not paying taxes almost a year before election day is a disqualification from voting. But this of course is not the sole penalty. Whether he is a qualified elector or not, every man must in the case of real property pay his taxes, or suffer the loss of his property, and certainly no man, not even the poorest of the Negroes and poor whites, can escape the obligation of the poll tax by a mere forfeiture of his right to vote. [11] Thus the penalty for not paying taxes is twofold in so far as the Negro is concerned. ”

“ No person who, during the late war between the States, served in the army or navy of the United States, or the Confederate States, or any state of the United States, or of the Confederate States, shall at any time be required to pay a poll tax as a prerequisite to the right to register or vote. The collection of the state poll tax assessed against any one shall not be enforced by legal process until the same has become three years past due. ”

“ As though the above measures were not sufficient, it is further required that, in order to vote at November elections in Alabama, voters must pay a small voluntary poll tax. This tax, however, must be paid each year before February first—that is, about nine months before elections actually take place. The negro has never been distinguished for his foresightedness with a dollar, and, to make matters harder for him, this tax is cumulative from the year 1901, so that a man who wishes to begin to vote this year, and can qualify in other respects, must pay a tax amounting to nearly twenty dollars. ”

“ If we are regularly going to submit questions to the voters at the polls for their decision, should not the voting lists be confined to those who are at least able to read the questions?
Tax-Paying Qualifications for Voting.—In a few states the male suffrage is restricted to persons who have been assessed for a poll tax. Massachusetts has such a provision and enforces it strictly. Some Southern states also impose this qualification, partly, no doubt, because it is effective in debarring large numbers of colored men who are remiss in paying their annual poll taxes. ”

“ The young and the poor invited to the ballot-box.—Danger of the Conservatives if candidates.—Their chiefs absent themselves.—Proportion of absentees at the primary assemblies.
They begin by paving their way.3310 A new decree has at once suppressed the feeble and last legal requirement for impartiality, integrity and competence of the elector and the eligible candidate. No more discrimination between active and passive citizens; no longer any difference between poll tax of an elector of the first degree and that of the second degree: no electoral poll tax qualification whatever. ”

“ And the government, from the possibility of such emergencies, ought ever to have the option of making use of them. The real scarcity of objects in this country, which may be considered as productive sources of revenue, is a reason peculiar to itself, for not abridging the discretion of the national councils in this respect. There may exist certain critical and tempestuous conjunctures of the State, in which a poll tax may become an inestimable resource. ”

“ Tax collectors may not allow any person to register for voting unless satisfied that his poll taxes have been paid. Section 34-114. Appellant brought this suit in the superior court of Fulton county to have the clause of the Constitution and the statutory provisions above mentioned declared repugnant to various provisions of the Federal Constitution and to compel appellee to allow him to register for voting without payment of poll taxes. ”

“ It is argued that a State may exact fees from citizens for many different kinds of licenses; that if it can demand from all an equal fee for a driver's license, [5] it can demand from all an equal poll tax for voting. But we must remember that the interest of the State, when it comes to voting, is limited to the power to fix qualifications. Wealth, like race, creed, or color, is not germane to one's ability to participate intelligently in the electoral process. ”

“ It was actually provoked by the unwise and unjust poll-tax of one shilling a head on all adult persons, voted by the parliament of Northampton in November 1380. The last poll-tax had been carefully graduated on a sliding scale so as to press lightly on the poorest classes; in this one a shilling for each person had to be exacted from every township, though it was provided that “the strong should help the weak” to a certain extent. ”

“ The Senator from Florida [Mr. Holland] has now pending a proposed constitutional amendment to eliminate the poll tax, amending the Constitution. To do that would be legal; it would be constitutional, and it would be proper. Personally I think it is better to leave to each State the power to fix the qualifications for voting of its citizens. In my State, as I have said, we have very low qualifications. We have heard much about people in my State not voting. I believe more people vote in my State than vote in New York, because New York has a much higher standard for voting. ”

“ At the time the committee of ways and means reported the first measure enacted for levying a tax there was a minority report recommending that no other than a poll tax of one dollar be laid upon every male inhabitant of the age of twenty-one and upward, except negroes and Indians. [64] A year later there was a protest entered upon the journal of the Legislature denying its right to levy a tax of any kind "without the consent of the free voters of the territory previously obtained." ”