Philander C. Knox

16th Amendment Ratified: Federal Income Tax Established to Shift Burden from Middle Class to Wealthy

| Importance: 9/10

Delaware became the 36th state to ratify the 16th Amendment, meeting the three-fourths requirement to establish Congress’s right to impose a federal income tax. Secretary of State Philander C. Knox certified the amendment on February 25, 1913. The amendment was part of a wave of Progressive …

Delaware State Legislature Philander C. Knox U.S. Congress Progressive Movement progressive-era taxation economic-reform constitutional-amendment
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