Ratified February 3, 1913
Overturned an 1895 Supreme Court decision that had struck down a federal income tax as an unconstitutional "direct tax." This amendment explicitly allows Congress to tax income "from whatever source derived" without dividing the burden up among the states by population — the constitutional basis for the modern federal income tax.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.