poll tax

[pohl] /poʊl/

noun

a capitation tax, the payment of which is sometimes a prerequisite to exercise the right of suffrage.

Also called head tax.

Origin

1685-95

Examples from the web for poll tax

Any fee, however indirect, that is required for one to vote is a poll tax.
All the administrative problems of a poll tax are involved.
He photographed church and labor groups organizing to do away with the poll tax.
It extended that right regardless of registration and poll tax requirements, as long as the voter met state qualifications.

British Dictionary definitions for poll tax

poll tax

noun

a tax levied per head of adult population

an informal name for (the former) community charge

poll tax in Culture

poll tax definition

A tax required as a qualification for voting. After the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution extended the vote to blacks in 1870, many southern states instituted poll taxes to prevent blacks from voting. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1964, prohibits poll taxes for federal elections.