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Unapportioned Direct-Consumption Taxes And The Sixteenth Amendment, Erik M. Jensen
Unapportioned Direct-Consumption Taxes And The Sixteenth Amendment, Erik M. Jensen
Faculty Publications
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.
Taxation And The Constitution: How To Read The Direct-Tax Clauses, Erik M. Jensen
Taxation And The Constitution: How To Read The Direct-Tax Clauses, Erik M. Jensen
Faculty Publications
This essay responds to Professor Bruce Ackerman, who had challenged the author's understanding of the Direct-Tax Clauses of the Constitution and the Sixteenth Amendment to that Constitution.