poll tax
Fee to vote
A poll tax is a fixed tax levied on every adult, regardless of income or property—historically used as a prerequisite for voting.
In the American South, poll taxes effectively disenfranchised Black voters and poor whites who couldn't afford the fee.
The 24th Amendment (1964) banned poll taxes in federal elections.
The poll tax kept generations from the ballot box.
Racial separation laws
- disenfranchisementRemoval of voting rights
- voting rightsEntitlement to elect officials
- SelmaAlabama civil rights city
- literacy testAssessment of reading ability
grandfather clause · voter suppression · NAACP · civil rights movement · Montgomery · Martin Luther King Jr. · John Lewis · Bloody Sunday
Formally registering a choice
- franchiseLicensed business operation
- ballotVoting document
- electorateEligible voting body
- disenfranchisementRemoval of voting rights
enfranchisement · registration · civic participation · democracy · nineteenth amendment · voter turnout · citizenship · voting booth
Per-capita fixed payment
- tributeOffering of respect
- titheTenth for clergy
- per capitaFor each individual
- ancient RomeEarly Italian empire city
Officially withdrawn from effect
- abolishedFormally ended by authority
- unconstitutionalViolating fundamental law
- invalidatedMade no longer binding
- overturnedTurned upside down
nullified · rescinded · banned · eliminated · struck down · litigation · legal challenge · reform
Being barred from participation
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- racismPrejudice based on ethnicity
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- classismPrejudice by economic rank
socioeconomic · poor whites · sharecroppers · minorities · systemic racism · institutionalized · bias · prejudice
Jim Crow
Racial separation laws
- disenfranchisementRemoval of voting rights
- voting rightsEntitlement to elect officials
- SelmaAlabama civil rights city
literacy test · grandfather clause · voter suppression · NAACP · civil rights movement · Montgomery · Martin Luther King Jr. · John Lewis · Bloody Sunday · racial discrimination
voting
Formally registering a choice
- franchiseLicensed business operation
- ballotVoting document
- electorateEligible voting body
disenfranchisement · enfranchisement · registration · civic participation · democracy · nineteenth amendment · voter turnout · citizenship · voting booth · election day
capitation
Per-capita fixed payment
- tributeOffering of respect
- titheTenth for clergy
- per capitaFor each individual
repealed
Officially withdrawn from effect
- abolishedFormally ended by authority
- unconstitutionalViolating fundamental law
- invalidatedMade no longer binding
overturned · nullified · rescinded · banned · eliminated · struck down · litigation · legal challenge · reform · civil rights legislation
exclusion
Being barred from participation
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- racismPrejudice based on ethnicity
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
classism · socioeconomic · poor whites · sharecroppers · minorities · systemic racism · institutionalized · bias · prejudice · unfairness
- historical lawattainder, Justinian Code, Roman law, curtesy, Napoleonic Code
- ancient taxesannona, munera, customs duty, customs duties, import duties
- French taxationcapitation, corvee, aides, stamp duty, customs duties
- Jewish taxestithe, firstfruits, gleanings, communal funds
- taxeswithholding, VAT, GST, customs duty, FICA
- historical recordsdiary, census record, annual reviews, letter, government records
poll taxincome tax
Government charge on earnings
wealth tax · property tax · capital gains tax · estate tax · inheritance tax
poll taxuniversal suffrage
All adults may vote
Voting Rights Act · voting rights · free elections · voter registration drives · voting access
tax, poll, taxing, taxed, taxes, polls, polling, taxation, polled