<P> A poll tax is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual . Although often associated with states of the former Confederacy , poll taxes were also in place in some northern and western states , including California , Connecticut , Maine , Massachusetts , Minnesota , New Hampshire , Ohio , Pennsylvania , Vermont and Wisconsin . Poll taxes had been a major source of government funding among the colonies which formed the United States . Poll taxes made up from one - third to one - half of the tax revenue of colonial Massachusetts . Various privileges of citizenship , including voter registration or issuance of driving licenses and resident hunting and fishing licenses , were conditioned on payment of poll taxes to encourage collection of this tax revenue . Property taxes assumed a larger share of tax revenues as land values rose when population increases encouraged settlement of the American west . Some western states found no need for poll tax requirements ; but poll taxes and payment incentives remained in eastern states , and some links to voter registration were modified following the American Civil War until court action following ratification of the 24th Amendment in 1964 . </P>
<P> A poll tax is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual . Although often associated with states of the former Confederacy , poll taxes were also in place in some northern and western states , including California , Connecticut , Maine , Massachusetts , Minnesota , New Hampshire , Ohio , Pennsylvania , Vermont and Wisconsin . Poll taxes had been a major source of government funding among the colonies which formed the United States . Poll taxes made up from one - third to one - half of the tax revenue of colonial Massachusetts . Various privileges of citizenship , including voter registration or issuance of driving licenses and resident hunting and fishing licenses , were conditioned on payment of poll taxes to encourage collection of this tax revenue . Property taxes assumed a larger share of tax revenues as land values rose when population increases encouraged settlement of the American west . Some western states found no need for poll tax requirements ; but poll taxes and payment incentives remained in eastern states , and some links to voter registration were modified following the American Civil War until court action following ratification of the 24th Amendment in 1964 . </P>
what is the purpose of a poll tax
what is the purpose of a poll tax
a major source of government funding
a major source of government funding