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Show AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION. The question of the imposition of a tax on incomes in-comes lias long been a subject of consuming interest. inter-est. Heretofore the supreme court of the United States has held such a tax contrary to the provisions of the constitution. With the desire, however, of making such a tax effective, or to have the ques- j tion forever settled, congress has authorized a constitutional con-stitutional amendment which will permit the imposition impo-sition of such a tax. The authorization of the I amendment has passed both houses of congress, and it now requires the ratification of three-fourths of the states to make it effective. There is no time limit fixed within which the rat- itication shall take place. It may run on indefinitely, but it is said that the precedent in the matter of i ratification or rejection is that rejection 'may be reconsidered while ratification may not. Once a state ratifies a constitutional amendment, the work is irrevocable, but states through their legislatures may reject an amendment several times and still i reconsider and ratify it. The reason for this is, of course, to prevent the nullification of an amendment : after its acceptance has been proclaimed. It has been about forty years since the last amendments were added to the constitution, and the country has grown since then in the number of states which may. vote on the proposed amendment. There are now forty-six states entitled to vote on the income tax amendment.. To ratify the amendment, amend-ment, three-fourths of this number will have to vote in the affirmative. It will require the votes of thirty-five states to make the amendment effective. The states report the ratification to the secretary of state, who, when he has received a sufficient number, declares through a proclamation by the president that the amendment has become a part of the constitution. consti-tution. Xo one can tell even approximately when, 1 if ever, this amendment will become" a part of the I supreme law of the land. It will require several I years under the most favorable circumstances to j H'f" Jt ratified by thirty-five states. |