1. A Georgia statute exempts all persons under 21 or over 60
years of age, and all females who do not register for voting, from
a poll tax of $1.00 per year, which is levied generally upon all
inhabitants, and which, under the state constitution, must be paid
by the person liable, together with arrears, before he can be
registered for voting.
Held that males who are not within
the exemption are not denied the equal protection of the laws
guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp.
302 U. S.
281-282.
Page 302 U. S. 278
2. On the basis of special consideration to which they are
naturally entitled, women as a class may be exempted from poll
taxes without exempting men. P.
302 U. S.
282.
3. Since this discrimination is permissible in favor of all
women, a man subject to the tax has no status to complain that,
among women, the tax is levied only on those who register to vote,
or that registration is allowed to them without paying taxes for
previous years. P.
302 U. S.
282.
4. Payment of the Georgia poll tax as a prerequisite to voting
is not required for the purpose of denying or abridging the
privilege of voting. P.
302 U. S.
282.
5. Exaction of payment of poll taxes before registration as an
aid to collection is a use of the State's power consistent with the
Federal Constitution. P.
302 U. S.
283.
6. Voting is a privilege derived not from the United States, but
from the State, which may impose such conditions as it deems
appropriate, subject only to the limitations of the Fifteenth and
Nineteenth Amendments and other provisions of the Federal
Constitution. P.
302 U. S.
283.
7. A state law requiring payment of poll taxes as a condition to
voting does not abridge any privilege or immunity protected by the
Fourteenth Amendment. P.
302 U. S.
283.
8. The Nineteenth Amendment, forbidding denial or abridgement of
the right to vote on account of sex, applies equally in favor of
men and women, and, by its own force, supersedes inconsistent
measures, whether federal or state. P.
302 U. S.
283.
9. It was not the purpose of the Nineteenth Amendment to limit
the taxing power of the State. P.
302 U. S.
283.
10. The Georgia statute levying on inhabitants of the State a
poll tax, payment whereof is made a prerequisite to voting, but
exempting females who do not register for voting, does not abridge
the right of male citizens to vote on account of their sex, and is
not repugnant to the Nineteenth Amendment. P.
302 U. S. 284.
183 Ga. 189, 188 S.E. 140, affirmed.
Appeal from a judgment which affirmed the dismissal of
appellant's petition for a writ of mandamus requiring the appellee
to allow the appellant to register for voting for federal and state
officers at primary and general elections without payment of poll
taxes.
Page 302 U. S. 279
MR. JUSTICE BUTLER delivered the opinion of the Court.
A Georgia statute provides that there shall be levied and
collected each year from every inhabitant of the state between the
ages of 21 and 60 a poll tax of one dollar, but that the tax shall
not be demanded from the
Page 302 U. S. 280
blind or from females who do not register for voting. Georgia
Code, 1933, § 92-108. The State Constitution declares that, to
entitle a person to register and vote at any election, he shall
have paid all poll taxes that he may have had opportunity to pay
agreeably to law. Article 2, § 1, par. 3, Code, § 2-603. The form
of oath prescribed to qualify an elector contains a clause
declaring compliance with that requirement. Section 34-103. Tax
collectors may not allow any person to register for voting unless
satisfied that his poll taxes have been paid. Section 34-114.
Appellant brought this suit in the superior court of Fulton county
to have the clause of the Constitution and the statutory provisions
above mentioned declared repugnant to various provisions of the
Federal Constitution and to compel appellee to allow him to
register for voting without payment of poll taxes. The court
dismissed his petition. The state Supreme Court affirmed. 183 Ga.
189, 188 S.E. 140.
The pertinent facts alleged in the petition are these. March 16,
1936, appellant, a white male citizen 28 years old, applied to
appellee to register him for voting for federal and state officers
at primary and general elections. He informed appellee he had
neither made poll tax returns nor paid any poll taxes, and had not
registered to vote because a receipt for poll taxes and an oath
that he had paid them are prerequisites to registration. He
demanded that appellee administer the oath, omitting the part
declaring payment of poll taxes, and allow him to register.
Appellee refused.
Appellant maintains that the provisions in question are
repugnant to the equal protection clause and the privileges and
immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and to the
Nineteenth Amendment.
1. He asserts that the law offends the rule of equality in that
it extends only to persons between the ages of 21 and 60 and to
women only if they register for voting,
Page 302 U. S. 281
and in this it makes payment a prerequisite to registration. He
does not suggest that exemption of the blind is unreasonable.
Levy by the poll has long been a familiar form of taxation, much
used in some countries and to a considerable extent here at first
in the colonies and later in the states. To prevent burdens deemed
grievous and oppressive, the Constitutions of some states prohibit
or limit poll taxes. That of Georgia prevents more than a dollar a
year. Article 7, § 2, par. 3, Code, § 2-5004. Poll taxes are laid
upon persons without regard to their occupations or property to
raise money for the support of government or some more specific
end. [
Footnote 1] The equal
protection clause does not require absolute equality. While
possible by statutory declaration to levy a poll tax upon every
inhabitant of whatsoever sex, age, or condition, collection from
all would be impossible, for always there are many too poor to pay.
Attempt equally to enforce such a measure would justify
condemnation of the tax as harsh and unjust.
See Faribault v.
Misener, 20 Minn. 396, 398;
Thurston County v. Tenino
Stone Quarries, 44 Wash. 351, 355, 87 P. 634;
Salt Lake
City v. Wilson, 46 Utah 60, 66
et seq., 148 P. 1104.
Collection from minors would be to put the burden upon their
fathers or others upon whom they depend for support. [
Footnote 2] It is not unreasonable to exclude
them from the class taxed.
Men who have attained the age of 60 are often, if not always,
excused from road work, jury duty and service
Page 302 U. S. 282
in the militia. [
Footnote 3]
They have served or have been liable to be called on to serve the
public to the extent that the state chooses to require. So far as
concerns equality under the equal protection clause, there is no
substantial difference between these exemptions and exemption from
poll taxes. The burden laid upon appellant is precisely that put
upon other men. The rate is a dollar a year, commencing at 21 and
ending at 60 years of age.
The tax being upon persons, women may be exempted on the basis
of special considerations to which they are naturally entitled. In
view of burdens necessarily borne by them for the preservation of
the race, the state reasonably may exempt them from poll taxes.
Cf. Muller v. Oregon, 208 U. S. 412,
208 U. S. 421,
et seq.; Quong Wing v. Kirkendall, 223 U. S.
59,
223 U. S. 63;
Riley v. Massachusetts, 232 U. S. 671;
Miller v. Wilson, 236 U. S. 373;
Bosley v. McLaughlin, 236 U. S. 385. The
laws of Georgia declare the husband to be the head of the family
and the wife to be subject to him. Section 53-501. To subject her
to the levy would be to add to his burden. Moreover, Georgia poll
taxes are laid to raise money for educational purposes, and it is
the father's duty to provide for education of the children. Section
74-105. Discrimination in favor of all women being permissible,
appellant may not complain because the tax is laid only upon some
or object to registration of women without payment of taxes for
previous years.
Aetna Insurance Co. v. Hyde, 275 U.
S. 440,
275 U. S. 447;
Rosenthal v. New York, 226 U. S. 260,
226 U. S.
270.
Payment as a prerequisite is not required for the purpose of
denying or abridging the privilege of voting. It does not limit the
tax to electors; aliens are not there permitted to vote, but the
tax is laid upon them, if within
Page 302 U. S. 283
the defined class. It is not laid upon persons 60 or more years
old, whether electors or not. Exaction of payment before
registration undoubtedly serves to aid collection from electors
desiring to vote, but that use of the state's power is not
prevented by the Federal Constitution.
Cf. Magnano Co. v.
Hamilton, 292 U. S. 40,
292 U. S.
44.
2. To make payment of poll taxes a prerequisite of voting is not
to deny any privilege or immunity protected by the Fourteenth
Amendment. Privilege of voting is not derived from the United
States, but is conferred by the state and, save as restrained by
the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments and other provisions of the
Federal Constitution, the state may condition suffrage as it deems
appropriate.
Minor v.
Happersett, 21 Wall. 162,
88 U. S. 170
et seq.; Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.
S. 651,
110 U. S.
664-665;
McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U. S.
1,
146 U. S. 37-38;
Guinn v. United States, 238 U. S. 347,
238 U. S. 362.
The privileges and immunities protected are only those that arise
from the Constitution and laws of the United States, and not those
that spring from other sources.
Hamilton v. Regents,
293 U. S. 245,
293 U. S.
261.
3. The Nineteenth Amendment, adopted in 1920, declares: "The
right of citizens of he United States to vote shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of
sex." It applies to men and women alike and by its own force
supersedes inconsistent measures, whether federal or state.
Leser v. Garnett, 258 U. S. 130,
258 U. S. 135.
Its purpose is not to regulate the levy or collection of taxes. The
construction for which appellant contends would make the amendment
a limitation upon the power to tax.
Cf. Minor v. Happersett,
supra, 88 U. S. 173;
Bowers v. Kerbaugh-Empire Co., 271 U.
S. 170,
271 U. S.
173-174. The payment of poll taxes as a prerequisite to
voting is a familiar and reasonable regulation long enforced in
many states and for more than a century in
Page 302 U. S. 284
Georgia. [
Footnote 4] That
measure reasonably may be deemed essential to that form of levy.
Imposition without enforcement would be futile. Power to levy and
power to collect are equally necessary. And, by the exaction of
payment before registration, the right to vote is neither denied
nor abridged on account of sex. It is fanciful to suggest that the
Georgia law is a mere disguise under which to deny or abridge the
right of men to vote on account of their sex. The challenged
enactment is not repugnant to the Nineteenth Amendment.
Affirmed.
[
Footnote 1]
Dowell, History of Taxation and Taxes in England, vol. III, c.
1; Bryce, The American Commonwealth, c. XLIII; Cooley, The Law of
Taxation (4th Ed.) §§ 40, 1773;
Hylton v.
United States, 3 Dall. 171,
3 U. S. 175,
3 U. S. 182;
Short v. Maryland, 80 Md. 392, 397,
et seq., 31
A. 322;
Faribault v. Misener, 20 Minn. 396.
[
Footnote 2]
Section 74-105, Georgia Code, declares: "Until majority [21
years], it is the duty of the father to provide for the
maintenance, protection, and education of his child."
[
Footnote 3]
In Georgia, men are excused from road work at 50 (§ 95-401),
from jury duty at 60 (§ 59-112), and from liability for service in
the militia at 45 (§ 86-201;
see also § 86-209).
[
Footnote 4]
Constitution of 1798, art. 4, § 1 (2 Thorpe, Federal and State
Constitutions, p. 800). Act of Dec. 12, 1804 (Cobb, New Digest Laws
of Georgia, p. 1044).