Answer: The federal income tax was unconstitutional.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Company (1895), the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional the income tax required by the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act, on account of being an unapportioned direct tax.
However, this decision would be outmoded in 1913 by the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which authorizes Congress to charge income taxes without distributing them amid the states.