Unable to protect child workers under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, Congress tried another approach. The Revenue Act of 1919, also known as the Child Labor Tax Law, regulated child labor indirectly. Among its many provisions, the law imposed a ten-percent tax on net profits of companies that employed children in certain industries, such as mining and manufacturing.
Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives and Records Administration
H.R. 12863, Revenue Act of 1919 (Child Labor Tax Law), 1919
Is Child Labor Law Constitutional?
It took Congress and the Supreme Court decades to agree that federal regulation of child labor was constitutional. Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana introduced the first federal child-labor bill in 1906. That bill failed, but Congress passed subsequent bills in 1916 and 1919, only to see them struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. Finally, in 1941, the Supreme Court reversed its earlier opinions, recognizing Congress’s power to regulate child labor as stipulated in the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.
Congress and the Supreme Court have interpreted the Constitution differently on some issues. Through opposing laws and legal decisions spanning a quarter century, the two branches eventually agreed that legislation regulating child labor is constitutional.
Unable to protect child workers under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, Congress tried another approach. The Revenue Act of 1919, also known as the Child Labor Tax Law, regulated child labor indirectly. Among its many provisions, the law imposed a ten-percent tax on net profits of companies that employed children in certain industries, such as mining and manufacturing.
Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives and Records Administration
