In debates about reorienting the American revenue system, nearly everyone assumes the Constitution is irrelevant. With few exceptions, the tax provisions in the original Constitution - particularly the direct-tax apportionment rule and the uniformity rule - have been interpreted to be paper...

This essay discusses the apportionment rule in the Constitution that applies to direct taxes. Taxes that are direct (and are not taxes from incomes) must be apportioned among the states on the basis of population, regardless of how the tax base is spread across the country. That constitutional...