For federal-level elections, poll taxes would be unconsitutional even without the Voting Rights Act:
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Quote by: 24th Amendment The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay poll tax or other tax. |
If you want to restore a state's ability to institute poll taxes, there are much greater obstacles than the Voting Rights Act.
Regardless of legality, poll taxes are an infringement on a fundamental right. A poll tax would condition a person's ability to vote on their ability to pay. Voting has long been considered a fundamental right and is the most basic right of the democratic citizen. The Supreme Court has ruled that voting is a fundamental right, a "preservative of other basic civil and political rights" (Reynolds v. Simms). A fundamental right is conditional on nothing --- it is automatically possesed. A poll tax is no better than making you pay for your "right" to freedom of speech, or protection against torture, or any other basic right.
The federal government is charged with enforcing federal level rights, and enforces basic bill of rights protections for citizens in states. The Supreme Court against gerrymandering, for instance, to protect the right to vote.
I'm all for allowing more state autonomy, but the federal government as defined in the Constitution is charged with protecting basic Constitutional Rights, and the Voting Rights Act is an entirely appropriate example of this.