[mod.politics] Taxes and Constitionality

Hank.Walker@UNH.CS.CMU.EDU (09/10/86)

I do not understand all this talk about income taxes and whether they
are constitutional.  If I remember correctly, the Federal government
instituted some form of income tax to pay for the Civil War (or some
other war).  The Supreme Court ruled this unconstitutional.  An
amendment was passed that made income taxes constitutional, just in
time for WWI.  So income taxes are allowed by the Constitution, and
there is no need to puzzle over the meaning of the 5th and 13th
amendments.
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