Forty two years ago today, the XXIIII amendment to the Constitution was ratified and Poll Taxes in Federal Elections were abolished and ruled unconstitutional..
Now if we could only have the XVI amendment (directed tax abolished).. That would be something to celebrate.
I fully agree with you on abolishing the 16th amendment. I'd add the 17th to the short list to abolish.
I will have to respectfully disagree with you on the desirability of the 24th amendment. No doubt the racist use of poll taxes to disenfranchise blacks was highly offensive. Ditto the similar use of "literacy" tests of the same era.
But what a horrible price we continue to pay for the racism of the prior generations.
At the end of the day, one of the most common duties of elected representatives (and of direct popular elections via citizen initiatives) is to determine how tax money is going to be spent. And with the 24th amendment in place, perfectly reasonable, logical limitations on who gets to help make those decisions are not permissible.
We have large numbers of Indians living on Reservations here in the West. They are not subject to local taxation, but are generally eligible to vote in local elections. No prizes for guesses how such persons vote in virtually ever bond election. They get to enjoy whatever new public facility is funded via the property taxes to pay the bond, while being under zero obligation to pay the taxes.
A very similar situation is common in college towns where large numbers of de facto non-residents are free to engage in the charity-with-others'-money of youth, with very little likelihood such generous voters will be sticking around to ever pay taxes toward the long term debt obligation they helped incur.
More subtle is the issue of those living on the dole being fully empowered to vote for those who promise them continued access to others' money via taxation.
On the flip side, many property owners are not permitted to vote in elections simply because they do not reside where their property is located. Consider the landlord with an apartment complex, or even a townhome. His tenants--who are residents of the city/county/State--are free to vote to increase his taxes, but he--who may live in a different jurisdiction--is not able to vote against tax increases.
Any anyone who can't pass a basic civics test has no business presuming to help make any decisions about laws, taxes, or spending.
Given the racist past of both poll taxes and literacy tests, we'd probably never be able to see them implemented again regardless of constitutional language. But this is a fact to be mourned, not celebrated, IMO.
Charles