Rob Natelson (Montana; Google Scholar), More Evidence That "Direct Taxes" Include Levies on Wealth and Income:

My July 12 entry provided links to Founding-era sources showing that the Constitution's category of "direct taxes" included levies on all kinds of wealth and on business profits and income. Direct taxes were not, as often claimed, limited to capitations and real property levies. Nor were they limited to taxes on "persons and property," as stated in the Supreme Court's opinion last month in Moore v. United States.

This post supplements the entry of July 12. Below you will find (1) citations to the four ratification-era comments mentioned in the earlier entry, (2) several additional ratification-era comments, with citations, and (3) links to more pre-Founding-era and Founding-era direct tax statutes.

If you manage to get to the end of this post, I think you will agree: In light of the evidence, it is astounding that confusion over the Constitution's categories of direct and indirect taxes still persists.

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