Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company

(1895) U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared the federal income tax unconstitutional, thus voiding portions of an 1894 act that imposed a direct tax on the incomes of U.S. citizens and corporations. The decision was mooted in 1913 when ratification of the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes on incomes.”