Guntersville, AL asked in Constitutional Law for Alabama

Q: 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was never properly ratified.

This amendment which established the "income tax" was signed into law despite

serious defects. In reality, only two States [mind you, these were all Territorial

"States of States" at this time] ratified the amendment and ratification requires 36 (3/4 of)

states to be valid. How does this happen or is this just another case of we will do what we want to do?

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1 Lawyer Answer
Nelson Craig Johnson
Nelson Craig Johnson
Answered
  • Birmingham, AL
  • Licensed in Alabama

A: Not sure what "serious defects" you are referring to. However, 36 States ratified the amendment by 1913. The first state to ratify was Alabama in 1909. The 36th state was Delaware. In total 42 States ratified. Four states rejected the amendment and two never considered it. (Alaska and Hawaii were not States at the time, and therefore not considered in these numbers.)

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