[Verse 1]
Back in seventeen eighty-seven, founders wrote the Constitution
Article One Section Eight gave Congress power of taxation
They could lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excise
But direct taxes needed apportionment, that was the price
[Chorus]
Taxing Clause and Sixteenth Amendment
Direct and indirect, know the difference
Pollock blocked the income tax flow
Till Amendment Sixteen made it go
Constitutional framework, learn it well
Tax law history, we'll tell
[Verse 2]
Direct taxes hit your property, your wealth where you stand
Indirect taxes on transactions, passed along by someone's hand
Apportionment meant dividing by each state's population
Made direct taxes nearly impossible across the nation
[Chorus]
Taxing Clause and Sixteenth Amendment
Direct and indirect, know the difference
Pollock blocked the income tax flow
Till Amendment Sixteen made it go
Constitutional framework, learn it well
Tax law history, we'll tell
[Verse 3]
Eighteen ninety-five came Pollock versus Farmers' Loan and Trust
Supreme Court said income tax on property was unjust
Called it direct taxation, struck the whole law down
Constitutional crisis hit, turned tax law upside down
[Bridge]
From tariffs and customs in the early days
To modern income tax in so many ways
Revenue Act of nineteen thirteen
Changed everything we'd ever seen
[Verse 4]
Commerce Clause affects how states can tax across their borders
Interstate business transactions follow federal orders
Can't discriminate against commerce from another state
Constitutional limits on tax power, don't be late
[Chorus]
Taxing Clause and Sixteenth Amendment
Direct and indirect, know the difference
Pollock blocked the income tax flow
Till Amendment Sixteen made it go
Constitutional framework, learn it well
Tax law history, we'll tell
[Outro]
Constitutional framework guides the way
Federal and state tax power today
Learn the history, know the law
Tax authority without a flaw