[JOHN W K]

The passage determines the number of Representatives each state gets, which is directly associated with the size of each state's Electoral College voting strength!

JWK

[Political Junkie Too]

So which point is being made here, Nifster's point that the 16th amendment delinked direct taxes with census apportionment, or your point that census apportionment for the purpose of taxing was also used to apportion the Electoral College?

Or are they one and the same?

-PJ

[John Valentine]

If you are speaking of Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3, please read it again, this time with due care to understanding the words therein.

There is NO language in there that provides for any sort of taxation test for determining the number of representatives for any state. In fact, it’s entirely the other way around; it’s the states’ population that determines the amount of direct taxation that can be assessed against each state.

Now, you may be correct that this element of the Constitution is largely ignored, especially now, after ratification the of the 16th amendment, but in no case is either the size of a state delegation to the US House of Representatives - or a state’s allotment of Electors to the Electoral College affected in any way whatsoever by the amount of taxes collected from within it’s borders.