Tags
Brushaber
Doctrine
Supported
Brushaber held the income tax is an excise, not a direct tax
Brushaber v. Union Pacific (1916) characterized the income tax as an excise. This characterization is correct, underappreciated, and load-bearing for understanding what the Sixteenth Amendment did and didn't do.
Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.
Held the post-Sixteenth Amendment income tax is properly characterized as an excise, not a direct tax requiring apportionment.
Excise Tax
A tax on an activity, transaction, or privilege rather than on the ownership of property. The category into which Brushaber placed the federal income tax.