Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution states that taxes are only permitted if they are apportioned among the states based on population. Direct taxation was feared by many of the Founding Fathers, but by 1913 the progressive reform atmosphere achieved such popularity that it was possible to pass the 16th Amendment, establishing a federal income tax without regard to population. The original intent of the amendment was to restore the government's right to tax individuals and corporations and thereby increase federal power, as well as "fiscal privilege", as seen in President Taft's 1909 speech to Congress. The idea of federal supremacy over the states, reestablished during the Civil War and promoted with the passage of the 16th Amendment, legitimized and enabled subsequent radical movements such as Social Security and Medicare, as well as ushering in a modern era of state intervention in private sector. private affairs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe enormous Union debt incurred during the Civil War introduced and rationalized the idea of ​​a progressive income tax, separating itself from the constitutional provision that taxes be apportioned among the states and thus requiring the 16th amendment as legal justification. Congress passed the first national income tax with the Revenue Act of 1861, to repay the $500 million in debt accumulated during the war. It was repealed a decade later, but reinstated in the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Bill of 1894 as a flat tax, before being promptly declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Pollock v. Farmer's Loan and Trust Company of 1895. Ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913 overturned this decision, allowing the federal government to tax the income of individuals without considering the population of each state. Although Congress repealed the first income tax in 1872, the concept had become reality, if only momentarily. This made progressive income taxes a possible vehicle for economic reform and wealth redistribution in the future, in the minds of many. During Reconstruction, when farmers in the South and West suffered from low crop prices while the industrial and financial economies of the East flourished, populist movements like Grange and the People's Party made progressive income taxes a major issue for their political campaigns, such as William Jennings Bryan's numerous presidential bids. The progressive wing of the Republican Party also supported this initiative, but a period of greater prosperity hindered the movement's momentum. But once again, massive war spending created the need for additional federal revenue. For example, government spending quadrupled from 1917 to 1918, and income taxes made up 60 percent of federal tax money by the end of the war. Before the 16th Amendment, the main sources of government revenue were import tariffs and domestic excise taxes on items such as tobacco and whiskey. The difference between government revenues and expenses was covered by sales of western lands and other miscellaneous taxes, but by then the frontier had been almost completely purchased by private prospectors and settlers. Tax rates were dramatically reduced after the war, but Congress had discovered the inherent stability and vast financial potential of a federal income tax. Furthermore, Prohibition was an immediate effect of the 16th Amendment that is often overlooked. Before 1913, the government did..