Direct Taxes.
—Direct taxes are levied directly upon property or persons. State laws usually prescribe that general property taxes shall be levied uniformly over the assessed values of the district concerned. A poll tax is levied on all persons of a particular age or class, as all able-bodied males between the ages of twenty-one and fifty years. An income tax is levied according to some prescribed rule on the annual incomes of persons and corporations. An income tax is really a tax on business, either present or past.
In either case, whether the levy is on his poll, upon the assessed valuation of his property, or upon his declared income, the taxpayer contributes, theoretically at least, in direct proportion to his ability to pay. The amount of the tax is definitely ascertained some little time in advance of payment and is collected directly by an officer of government.
The levying of labor or poll taxes on persons living within a particular road district easily expanded to the levying of property taxes to care for the local roads. However, as the cost of road building and maintenance increased the fronting or contiguous property could not stand the entire burden, the zone of taxation was widened to include larger areas, the township, the county or the state, depending on the importance of the highway.