Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act

Sereno E. Payne of New York, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (left) and Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island, chair of the Senate Finance Committee (right) dominated the debate and drafting of the tariff bill.

The Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909 (ch. 6, 36 Stat. 11), sometimes referred to as the Tariff of 1909, is a United States federal law that amended the United States tariff schedules to raise certain tariffs on goods entering the United States. It is named for U.S. representative Sereno E. Payne of New York and U.S. senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island.

The tariff began as a measure to enact the "tariff modification" plank of the Republican Party platform, which appealed to exporters, particularly Midwestern farmers and agriculture interests, and was understood by most contemporaries to mean a reduction in most rates. Although the final bill included provisions for a commission to study rates and free trade with the Philippines, it increased rates on most goods, angering progressives, who argued that high protective rates promoted monopoly, and led to a deep split in the Republican Party which culminated in the 1912 presidential primaries. The legislative debate over the bill also led directly to the adoption of a federal income tax via the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

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