The 24th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the required 38th state on January 23rd just 45 years ago.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
Virginia ratified the Amendment in 1977, North Carolina in 1989 and Alabama in 2002. Mississippi rejected the 24th Amendment in 1962. Wyoming, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina have never ratified the Amendment.
Poll taxes had been imposed late in the 19th century primarily as a means of keeping African-Americans from voting. In some instances, individuals whose parents and grandparents had voted were exempt from the tax — and, of course, the parents and grandparents of nearly all black voters had been slaves.
At the time the Amendment was approved, only five states still had a poll tax in federal elections: Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. A Supreme Court decision in 1966 declared poll taxes unconstitutional for state elections under the Equal Protection clause of the 14th amendment.