Tag: Congressional authority

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Hylton v. U.S. and Alexander Hamilton’s Defense of Congressional Taxing Authority

In 1796 Daniel Hylton, a wealthy Virginian farmer, brought a suit before the United States Supreme Court arguing that a federal tax on carriages violated a constitutional distinction between direct and indirect taxation. While the Constitution granted Congress unlimited authority to pass indirect taxes on imported goods, the framers insisted that direct taxes on property […]

by Nathan Hotes and Frank W. Garmon Jr.