FWIW, most Pennsylvania localities STILL have poll taxes, most commonly called a “per capita” tax. They just can’t be tied to the voter franchise.
"Poll Taxes" is a misdirection. The amendment was passed on the basis of people thinking it only dealt with "poll taxes" which they had been told was racist and was keeping black people from voting.
The last three words of the 24th amendment extends it to any form of taxation. Prior to the 24th amendment, you could not vote unless you paid taxes. This acted as a brake on government spending because *ONLY* taxpayers could vote.
With non taxpayers voting, you have a demographic you can bribe with government money, and they don't care how much the government spends. In fact they *WANT* the government to spend as much on them as possible.
And that's how we got the "Great Society" and the "War on Poverty."
That's what opened up the floodgates of reckless spending.
Because you could bribe voters into voting for you, you could create a near insurmountable majority, and that's what happened.