Then there’s the problem of the 16th amendment’s ratification. Through an oversight, Ohio was never officially admitted to the Union until Eisenhower signed the admission papers in 1953 and marked it retroactive to 1803. The problem is that the Constitution does not allow ex post facto laws. This Ohio couldn’t be retroactively admitted and legally only joined the Union in 1953. Since it wasn’t a state in 1913, it’s ratification of the 16th amendment was null and void and thus Congress had no authority to enact an income tax.
But one less state would have been a moot point since 6 more ratified it within a few weeks.
Ratification (by the requisite 36 states) was completed on February 3, 1913 with the ratification by Delaware. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states, bringing the total number of ratifying states to forty-two of the forty-eight then existing: (Or 41 of the 47 sans Ohio)
37. New Mexico (February 3, 1913)
38. Wyoming (February 3, 1913)
39. New Jersey (February 4, 1913)
40. Vermont (February 19, 1913)
41. Massachusetts (March 4, 1913)
42. New Hampshire (March 7, 1913), after rejecting the amendment on March 2, 1911