米国憲法修正第16条

第16改正、連邦所得税を許可する米国憲法の改正（1913年）。

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最も初期の既知の法体系は何ですか？

憲法の第1条、セクション8は、議会に「税金、関税、不正行為、および物品税を課して徴収し、債務を支払い、米国の共通の防衛および一般福祉に備えるための権限を与えます。しかし、すべての義務、詐称、および免責事項は、米国全体で統一されるものとします。」さらに、第1条第9項には、「本件の国勢調査に比例するか、本書に記載する前に列挙した場合を除いて、資本税またはその他の直接税は課せられない」とあります。

Although income taxes levied in support of the American Civil War (1861–65) were generally tolerated, subsequent attempts by Congress to impose taxes on income were met with significant opposition. In 1895, in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the federal income tax unconstitutional in striking down portions of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 that imposed a direct tax on the incomes of American citizens and corporations. It thusly made any direct tax subject to the rules articulated in Article I, Section 2.

Consequently, unless the U.S. Congress expected all income taxes to be apportioned among the states according to their populations, the power to levy income taxes was rendered impotent. The Sixteenth Amendment was introduced in 1909 to remedy this problem. By specifically affixing the language, “from whatever source derived,” it removes the “direct tax dilemma” related to Article I, Section 8, and authorizes Congress to lay and collect income tax without regard to the rules of Article I, Section 9, regarding census and enumeration. It was ratified in 1913.

The full text of the Amendment is:

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.