Southern states adopted poll taxes in the late 1800s and early 1900s as Reconstruction collapsed. The tax was often cumulative, so unpaid years piled up, and it was due months before an election. Officials could collect it selectively, and the fee fell hardest on Black sharecroppers with little cash income.
The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, banned poll taxes in federal elections. Two years later, in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966), the Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes in state elections violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The poll tax still shapes voting-rights debates. Critics argue that modern requirements carry hidden costs, such as paying for the documents needed to get a photo ID or paying court fines and fees before voting rights are restored after a felony conviction. In 2020, a federal appeals court upheld Florida's rule requiring people with felony convictions to pay outstanding fines before voting, a rule many advocates call a modern poll tax.