Constitutional FAQ Answer #62
<<Previous Question |
Question Index |
Subject Index |
Constitutional Index |
Next Question>>
Q62. “I have a friend that told me that I have a
constitutional right to travel in this country. He stated that to tax that
right with driver’s license fees, motor registration, license plate fees and a
gas tax is unconstitutional and that some people resist this ‘violation’ in
various degrees by challenging then in a court of law and eventually having
them overturned. Is there any truth to this and what do you base your
arguments on.”
A. You don’t have an explicitly stated constitutional right to travel within
the country, but since you are not restricted from interstate travel, the 10th amendment says you have the right anyway. It
could be reasonably argued that Article 4, Section
2, Clause 1, presumes the right to travel between states when it says that
a citizen of one state shall have all the rights of a citizen of another
state.
Driver’s license fees, state gas tax, license plate fees, registration
fees, and any other auto tax imposed by the state are entirely constitutional
under the U.S. Constitution, which basically says the State can do anything it
wants to, as long as the Constitution does not expressly forbid it. Unless
that state’s state constitution forbids such a tax, it is legal.
Federal gas taxes are constitutional under Article 1, Section 8, which states that the
Congress can lay excises, which is what the gas tax is.
So it’s no wonder that any case challenging these taxes is thrown out of
court.
|Home|
|Constitution|
|FAQ|
|Topics|
|Forums|
|Documents|
|Timeline|
|Kids|
|Vermont|
|Map|
|Citation|
|Survey|
|Support|
Last Modified: 16 Aug 2010