I'm a strict constitutionalist, for many reasons.
I believe that most people have forgotten the vertical separation of powers that was originally understood when the USA was set up, because the federal government has now assumed so much of the local and state levels.
Originally, the census was used to figure out representation, and also tax liability.
The federal government figured out that it's budget would be X dollars, and it would go to each state and ask for X*Y dollars, where Y was the number of people in that state, as a percentage of total population of all the states. If New York had 5 % of the population, then it (the state) would have to write a check to the federal government which was 5% of the total federal budget.
It was up to the state to decide how to collect the money.
In today's terms, Alaska could pay it from their money from oil, and any single citizen of Alaska might not have to personally pay a dime to the federal government. Nevada might use gambling taxes to do it. Texas might charge fees for exotic game hunters to pay it. New York might have a 100,000 page state tax code to collect it. But, it leaves it up to the state to handle it.
It also gets the federal government out of my pocketbook, and out of my hair. I might interface with a state tax division, but not a federal agency, that is less accountable to me than a state agency.
I truly think we have lost our way in a lot of this, and that the men that set up the USA were far more visionary, and fair, than anyone we know today.