poll tax

[pohl] /poʊl/
noun
1.
a capitation tax, the payment of which is sometimes a prerequisite to exercise the right of suffrage.
Also called head tax.
Origin
1685-95
British Dictionary definitions for poll taxes

poll tax

noun
1.
a tax levied per head of adult population
2.
an informal name for (the former) community charge
poll taxes 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.