Poll Tax

Poll Tax is a fixed amount tax that should be paid by every individual. Although this uniform tax was important in the ancient times but gradually it is losing its importance. In history, Poll Tax is quite important and there are several famous examples of poll taxes. For instance, this tax was imposed for plebiscite in different parts of the United States. It is from this incident that the Poll Tax came to be used as a tax of fixed amount payable by all for voting purposes. The Poll Tax is different from the income tax as while the latter will be different from person to person depending on each person's income, the former is of a fixed and uniform amount, same for every person, irrespective of any discriminatory parameters.

Poll Tax: Overview

Regarding the taxation laws in the United States the Poll Tax plays a significant role when applied in the sense of capitation. Along with this when the state government adopts the income tax as important source for funding, and then also poll taxes play an important role. Still, the most common use of the Poll Tax is the tax imposed for voting. There has been a debate in the United States that as many voters gets for themselves costly state ID, which is a part of the Poll Tax, many voters who cannot afford to pay such amount are refrained from the plebiscite. In the United States, under the Poll Tax there is a clause under which any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted prior to the abolition of slavery in a specific year, can vote without paying the poll tax.

In the case of the United Kingdom, the Poll Tax was more of a lay subsidy or more commonly a tax paid on the movable property required to fund war. Under the Poll Tax provisions, men were to pay a percent of the assessed value of their movable goods, which again differed yearly and regionally.Poll taxes were also imposed on the Chinese immigrants by the governments of Canada and New Zealand. However in the recent years the Poll Tax was effectively lifted by the latter state government and on June 22, 2006, the Canadian Prime Minister, decided to redress the Poll Tax applied to Chinese immigrants.

Poll Tax in India:

In India, Poll Tax is similar to the road tax on vehicles, but it should be noted that this tax is not very popular here. However, in the year 2002, it was decided by the Minister for Transport that the Poll Tax on all-India tourist vehicles entering the state of the Jammu and Kashmir would be Rs. 2,000 per day per vehicle.