States used to levy a tax on citizens to vote. Here's how the 24th Amendment changed that.
Editor's note: This is a regular feature on issues related to the Constitution and civics written by Paul G. Summers, retired judge and state attorney general.
The 24th Amendment abolished poll taxes and other taxes in federal elections. It was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964.
The United States Supreme Court later expanded the reach of the amendment. This expansion by the court strengthened the amendment by including state elections and elections under a state’s jurisdiction.
Amendment XXIV: “Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
“Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
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How the Supreme Court extended the ban on poll taxes to the state
The Amendment’s purpose was to prohibit discrimination against minority voters who were forced to pay a “tax” to vote in federal elections. It eliminated those unfair and discriminatory post-Reconstruction poll taxes. Some did not feel that the amendment went far enough, since it applied to federal elections, and not state elections.
Some two years after ratification, the Supreme Court spoke on that issue. In the 1966 opinion of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, our Supreme Court ruled that under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, states could not levy a poll or other tax in states and elections under a state’s jurisdiction.
Affluence or wealth of voters had nothing to do with voting or exercising one’s enfranchisement, according to the court. So beginning in 1966, all elections – federal, state, and local – were free from poll or other taxes of any kind.
We shall continue our study of the 25th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Reading the Constitution is time well spent.
Paul G. Summers is an attorney. He formerly served as an appellate and senior judge, district attorney general, and attorney general of Tennessee. Raised in Fayette County, Judge Summers lives in Holladay and Nashville.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Constitutional history: How the 24th Amendment eliminated poll taxes
