The Tenth Amendment envisages that the powers that are not constitutionally delegated to the United States and are not constitutionally prohibited to the states, belong to the states and the people respectively. Among other vital issues, the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution regulates the Federal Taxing Power. By its nature, the Tenth Amendment objectively defines the concept of federalism, and therefore the interaction between the Federal and state governments. The application of the Federal powers to tax is of utter national importance given a substantial increase of the Federal activity over the recent decades and subsequently the problem of balancing strategic state and national interests.

The issue of the Federal Taxing Power became critical after the Civil War. Not until then the reserved powers of the States were subjected to an independent qualification. The change occurred aftermath the tax case of Collector v. Day. Given the impossibility of imposing a valid national income tax on the official salaries of state officers, Justice Nelson stated that the States, apriori limited by their reserved powers, were not subjected to the general government while the latter was independent from the States (Bordewich 130).

While the decision in due case was overruled in 1939, the reconciliation of state and national interests has been biased. The Federal Taxing Power is still confronting the Courts. For example, in New York v. United States, the Court empowered the United States to tax the sale of mineral waters belonging to a State property. The explanation in due case was that the national taxing power would considerably diminish if the State would have withdrawn from being the subject to taxation. Further explanation claimed that pursuant to the Tenth Amendment the Congress should not have been restricted by any tax levying actions. Overall, to avoid any further biases regarding the subject matter of taxation, the independence of the States granted by the Tenth Amendment does not release them from the taxation imperative enjoyed by the federal government (Cornell University Law School 4).