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poll tax

[ pohl ]
/ poʊl /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR poll tax

noun

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

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Also called head tax.

Origin of poll tax

First recorded in 1685–95

Words nearby poll tax

pollock, Pollock, Jackson, poll parrot, pollster, polltaker, poll tax, pollucite, pollutant, pollute, polluted, pollution
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for poll tax

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

Cultural definitions for poll tax

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.