Legal Question in Constitutional Law in California

The equal protection clause bars discrimination based upon what the law calls suspect classifications like race, religion and gender. Income level does not qualify. The tax laws don't violate the Fourteenth Amendment because any two people with the same net income will be taxed at the same rate regardless of their race, religion, gender, etc.

First of all, the 16th Amendment allowed Congress to pass an *income* tax. It had the right to *tax* beforehand. But federal taxation was subject to certain restrictions that were removed.

With the 16th amendment, Congress could levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results. This amendment created an exemption for non-apportioned direct taxes on income, which were held unconstitutional in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895).

There is a 14th Amendment right to equal protection, even outside of the "suspect class" model; but the standard for government compliance is very low. To uphold this kind of difference-making (i.e. graduated tax brackets), the Government only has to show that it has a rational basis for making these distinctions.

The bracket arrangement, even if you don't like it and disagree with it philosophically, is nevertheless rational.

Everyone is taxed the same on the first X dollars. People who make more than X are taxed more *on the excess*. Because they can afford to pay more on the excess. That is rational (a low standard) and thus it meets the minimal demands of Equal Protection for non-suspect class cases.