ABSTRACT
In the early years of the Republic, the political reach of the Federal Government was fairly limited, as it remained within the assigned powers of Article 1. The Federal Government became more involved in economic affairs with the passage of two important amendments to the Constitution, the 16th Amendment (1913) that allowed for a national income tax and the 17th Amendment (1913) that allowed for direct election of senators. Those powers that pertain to the Federal Government do not include mention of, or connection to, local governments. The first century of the Republic's existence which have the authority to create local governments, controlled the powers, responsibility and revenue-raising authority of local governments, while the Federal Government had little interaction with them. Important rulings of the US Supreme Court in the nineteenth century established that the Federal Government could not tax an instrumentality of the states, and the states could not tax an instrumentality of the Federal Government.
