<P> The provisions of the Wilson--Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 required that for a five - year period, any "gains, profits and incomes" in excess of $4,000 would be taxed at 2% . In compliance with the Act, the New York - based Farmers' Loan & Trust Company announced to its shareholders that it would not only pay the tax but also provide, to the collector of internal revenue in the Department of the Treasury, the names of all people for whom the company was acting and thus were liable for being taxed under the Act . </P> <P> Charles Pollock was a Massachusetts citizen who owned only ten shares of stock in the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company . He sued the company to prevent the company from paying the tax . He lost in the lower courts but finally appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case . </P> <P> Arguing for Pollock was Joseph Hodges Choate, one of the most eminent Wall Street lawyers of his day . </P> <P> The Court handed down its decision on April 8, 1895, with Chief Justice Melville Fuller delivering the opinion of the Court . He ruled in Pollock's favor, stating that the taxes levied by the Wilson - Gorman Act on income from property were unconstitutional . The Court treated the tax on income from property as a direct tax . The Constitution of the United States then said that such direct taxes were required to be imposed in proportion to the states' population . The tax in question had not been apportioned and so was invalid . As Chief Justice Fuller stated: </P>

The supreme court case pollock vs farmers loan & trust began when