Hadden v. The Collector was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the issue of taxation. The case involved a dispute between the Collector of Internal Revenue and the plaintiff, William Hadden. Hadden had been assessed a tax on the profits of a business he owned, and he argued that the tax was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the Collector, finding that the tax was constitutional. The Court held that the tax was a valid exercise of Congress' power to tax and that it did not violate the Constitution. The Court also held that the tax was not a direct tax, and thus did not need to be apportioned among the states. The decision in Hadden v. The Collector was significant because it established that Congress had the power to tax income, and that the tax did not need to be apportioned among the states. This decision was later cited in numerous other cases, and it remains an important precedent in the area of taxation.

In Hadden v. The Collector, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a tax imposed by Congress on distilled spirits was constitutional. Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion, arguing that Congress had exceeded its authority in imposing such a tax and that it violated the Fifth Amendment's protection against taking property without due process of law. He argued that this type of taxation could only be done through direct taxes which must be apportioned among states according to population as outlined in Article I Section 9 Clause 4 of the Constitution. Furthermore, he argued that since there were no provisions for assessing or collecting such a tax from individuals directly, it constituted an unconstitutional taking without just compensation and thus violated both due process and equal protection under the law guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. In conclusion, Justice Field believed this particular form of taxation should not have been allowed because it did not meet Constitutional requirements for direct taxes nor did it provide adequate protections for citizens' rights as required by other Amendments within our nation's founding document.