The federal income tax in the United States was established by the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Quick Scoop: The Core Answer

  • The amendment that established Congress’s power to levy a federal income tax is the Sixteenth Amendment (Amendment XVI).
  • It was proposed by Congress in 1909 and ratified on February 3, 1913 , giving Congress the power to tax incomes without apportioning taxes among the states based on population.

What the Sixteenth Amendment Says

  • The key line of the Sixteenth Amendment: Congress has the 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.”
  • In plain terms, this removed earlier constitutional barriers and made a modern federal income tax clearly constitutional.

Why It Was Needed

  • Before 1913, attempts at a federal income tax ran into constitutional problems, especially the 1895 Supreme Court case Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co., which limited Congress’s ability to tax incomes.
  • The Sixteenth Amendment effectively overturned Pollock , clearing the way for a broad federal income tax that did not have to be divided among states by population.

After the Amendment: Income Tax in Practice

  • Soon after ratification, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1913 , which actually implemented a permanent federal income tax.
  • The Supreme Court later upheld this new tax regime in cases like Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. (1916), confirming the income tax’s constitutionality under the Sixteenth Amendment.

TL;DR

  • Which amendment established the income tax?
    → The Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1913 , established Congress’s clear power to impose a federal income tax.

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