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definitions

poll tax

[pohl]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR poll tax ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a capitation tax, the payment of which is sometimes a prerequisite to exercise the right of suffrage.

Origin of poll tax

First recorded in 1685–95
Also called head tax.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for poll tax

Historical Examples of poll tax

  • The poll-tax was abolished as a prerequisite for voting in the case of women.

  • The poll-tax, thereafter, was always a favorite source of revenue in Russia.

    The Story of Russia

    R. Van Bergen, M.A.

  • Ivan Kalita, as farmer of the poll-tax, grew immensely wealthy.

    The Story of Russia

    R. Van Bergen, M.A.

  • Arkansas, in 1893, based the franchise on a one-year poll-tax.

    The New Nation

    Frederic L. Paxson

  • Virginia based the suffrage on property, literacy, or poll-tax in 1902.

    The New Nation

    Frederic L. Paxson

British Dictionary definitions for poll tax

poll tax

noun

a tax levied per head of adult population
an informal name for (the former) community charge
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
poll tax in Culture

poll tax

A tax required as a qualification for voting. After the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution extended the vote to blacks in 1870, many southern states instituted poll taxes to prevent blacks from voting. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1964, prohibits poll taxes for federal elections.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.