Unapportioned Direct-Consumption Taxes and the Sixteenth Amendment
10 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2009
Abstract
The point of this essay is simple: a direct-consumption tax like the Forbes-Armey-Hall-Rabushka flat tax or the Nunn-Domenici USA tax is not a "tax on incomes" within the meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment. As a result, such a tax would be constitutional only if it were apportioned among the states on the basis of population. And since these taxes would not be apportioned-how could they be and work as they are intended to work?-they would be unconstitutional.
Keywords: Taxation, Sixteenth Amendment, Direct-Consumption Tax, Constitutional Law
JEL Classification: K10, K34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Jensen, Erik M., Unapportioned Direct-Consumption Taxes and the Sixteenth Amendment. Tax Notes, Vol. 84, p. 1089, Aug. 16, 1999, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1356088
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