Poll tax is a tax levied equally on all the citizens of a community. The amount of the tax is the same for a poor person as it is for a rich one. The term poll tax comes from the old English word poll, which means head. Many people refer to it as a head tax. A poll tax is sometimes called a capitation tax, from the Latin word caput, meaning head. Some people object to poll taxes because they feel taxes should be based only on income and property. However, many economists favor poll taxes because they believe that such taxes do not lessen a person’s incentive to earn more money.
The United States has never levied a national poll tax. But in the past, laws in several states required that a citizen who did not pay the poll tax could not vote. Amendment 24 to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1964, made it illegal for a state to use payment of taxes as a voting requirement in national elections. In 1966, the Supreme Court of the United States declared poll taxes unconstitutional if they are used as a requirement for voting in state and local elections. The court held that such taxes violated the equal protection of the law guaranteed by Amendment 14 to the United States Constitution.
