And yet the 16th amendment is the only one that goes directly against the foundational logic of our constitution.
Doesn't matter. It was ratified legally.
An amendment does not become part of the Constitution unless it is ratified by three-quarters of the states (either the legislatures thereof, or in amendment conventions).
The 16th Amendment, which specifically authorizes the income tax, was proposed on July 12, 1909.
# State Date *
1 Alabama Aug 10, 1909
2 Kentucky Feb 8, 1910
3 South Carolina Feb 19, 1910
4 Illinois Mar 1, 1910
5 Mississippi Mar 7, 1910
6 Oklahoma Mar 10, 1910
7 Maryland Apr 8, 1910
8 Georgia Aug 3, 1910
9 Texas Aug 16, 1910
10 Ohio Jan 19, 1911
11 Idaho Jan 20, 1911
12 Oregon Jan 23, 1911
13 Washington Jan 26, 1911
14 Montana Jan 30, 1911
15 Indiana Jan 30, 1911
16 California Jan 31, 1911
17 Nevada Jan 31, 1911
18 South Dakota Feb 3, 1911
19 Nebraska Feb 9, 1911
20 North Carolina Feb 11, 1911
21 Colorado Feb 15, 1911
22 North Dakota Feb 17, 1911
23 Kansas Feb 18, 1911
24 Michigan Feb 23, 1911
25 Iowa Feb 24, 1911
26 Missouri Mar 16, 1911
27 Maine Mar 31, 1911
28 Tennessee Apr 7, 1911
29 Arkansas Apr 22, 1911
30 Wisconsin May 26, 1911
31 New York Jul 12, 1911
32 Arizona Apr 6, 1912
33 Minnesota Jun 11, 1912
34 Louisiana Jun 28, 1912
35 West Virginia Jan 31, 1913
36 New Mexico Feb 3, 1913 *
37 Massachusetts Mar 4, 1913
38 New Hampshire Mar 7, 1913
Ratified in 1302 days (3 1/2 years)
This amendment was specifically rejected by New Hampshire on Mar 2, 1911. It was also rejected by Arkansas prior to its subsequent ratification, and by Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Utah.
16th Amendment
In 1895, in the Supreme Court case of Pollock v Farmer's Loan and Trust (157 U.S. 429), the Court disallowed a federal tax on income from real property. The tax was designed to be an indirect tax, which would mean that states need not contribute portions of a whole relative to its census figures. The Court, however, ruled that the tax was a direct tax and subject to apportionment. This was the last in a series of conflicting court decisions dating back to the Civil War. Between 1895 and 1909, when the amendment was passed by Congress, the Court began to back down on its position, as it became clear not only to accountants but to everyone that the solvency of the nation was in jeopardy. In a series of cases, the definition of "direct tax" was modified, bent, twisted, and coaxed to allow more taxation efforts that approached an income tax.
Finally, with the ratification of the 16th Amendment, any doubt was removed. The text of the Amendment makes it clear that though the categories of direct and indirect taxation still exist,
any determination that income tax is a direct tax will be irrelevant, because taxes on incomes, from salary or from real estate, are explicitly to be treated as indirect. The Congress passed the Amendment on July 12, 1909, and it was ratified on February 3, 1913 (1,302 days).