POLL TAX Definition & Meaning

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poll tax

[ pohl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a capitation tax, the payment of which is sometimes a prerequisite to exercise the right of suffrage.

poll tax

noun

a tax levied per head of adult population
an informal name for (the former) community charge

poll tax

A tax required as a qualification for voting. After the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution extended the vote to blacks in 1870, many southern states instituted poll taxes to prevent blacks from voting. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1964, prohibits poll taxes for federal elections.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of poll tax¹

First recorded in 1685–95

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The poll taxes and literacy tests of that era operated under the idea that Black people were fundamentally unqualified to participate in democracy.

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The role meant he was involved in introducing the poll tax in Scotland, where it was piloted a year earlier than in England and Wales.

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Ms. Hubbard, who is African American, cast her first ballot before the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which banned practices aimed at restricting Black Americans from voting, like poll taxes and literacy tests.

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A Labour leader heaping any sort of praise on a prime minister who introduced the poll tax and took on the miners is a hard sell for party figures north of the border.

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White leaders of both parties used numerous tactics over several decades to suppress the Black vote, from poll taxes to literacy tests.

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