Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution facts for kids
The Sixteenth Amendment (also called Amendment XVI) is an important part of the U.S. Constitution. It was approved on February 3, 1913. This amendment lets the Congress collect a tax on people's income. This means the government can tax the money people earn, no matter where it comes from.
Before this amendment, the Supreme Court had said that a federal income tax was against the rules. This happened in 1895 in a case called Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. The Court ruled that a 2 percent tax on incomes over $4,000 was unconstitutional. This was because the tax was not "apportioned" among the states. Apportionment meant that taxes had to be collected from states based on their population. The Sixteenth Amendment fixed this problem. It allowed Congress to collect a direct income tax without needing to apportion it among the states.
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What the Amendment Says
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
This means Congress can tax income from any source. They don't have to worry about how many people live in each state. They also don't need to count people for this tax.
Why the Income Tax Was Needed
When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they wanted to avoid taxing people's income directly. They created rules in Article One that said direct taxes had to be "apportioned."
This meant if a state had 4 percent of the country's population, it would pay 4 percent of any direct federal tax. This rule made it very hard for the government to collect direct taxes from people.
Before 1913, the U.S. government mostly got its money from other taxes. These were called indirect taxes. They included tariffs, which are taxes on goods brought into the country. They also included excise taxes on things like whiskey.
Income taxes were not a completely new idea. During the Civil War, Congress passed a law in 1861 to tax incomes. This helped pay for the war. But this tax ended ten years later. The Confederate States of America also had an income tax during the war.
In 1894, Congress tried again with an income tax. It was part of the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act. This law included a flat 2 percent federal income tax. But a year later, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional. They ruled it was a direct tax and had to be apportioned by state population.
Making Income Tax Constitutional
On June 16, 1909, President Taft sent a message to the Senate. He suggested a new amendment to the Constitution. This amendment would let the government tax incomes without needing to apportion it.
The idea was debated in the House of Representatives for five hours. Then, the bill passed with a vote of 314 to 14. After that, it was sent to the state legislatures to be approved. The amendment gave Congress the power to tax people's incomes directly. It removed the old apportionment rule for income taxes.
How the Sixteenth Amendment Changed Things
The biggest change from the Sixteenth Amendment was that it gave more power to the federal government. Before this, states had more money from taxes than the federal government. This made the federal government weaker.
With the Sixteenth Amendment, the federal government could collect a lot more money. This extra money helped it grow and do more things. For example, it made it easier for the U.S. to use its military power around the world.
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See also
In Spanish: Decimosexta Enmienda a la Constitución de los Estados Unidos para niños
