Is the personal income tax unconstitutional and illegal?

Question

I had heard rumors about this before but I have heard the movie "America From Freedom to Fascism" explained this in great detail. It basically sounds like nothing in the constitution allows for the IRS to tax personal income.

IRS typically says it is the 16th amendment that allows them to tax personal income, but multiple supreme court rulings have said the 16th amendment does not allow for any new types of tax, so personal income tax is still illegal.

Apparently many people have stopped paying federal income tax and have been acquitted in the courts because the IRS can not site what laws require people to file income tax each year and to pay personal income tax.

Multiple ex-IRS employees were interviewed who all confirmed they spent lots of time and research trying to find such a law only to discover there is none.

While it is apparently illegal to file a false tax return, there is apparently no law requiring you to file a return in the first place.

"The constitution allows for two kinds of taxes. They're called direct and indirect. The federal government in the Constitution can tax almost anything, as long as it apportions the tax if it's direct. The indirect tax is a, for example, an excise tax. I can avoid the excise tax on gasoline. ...

The income tax which is being applied now doesn't meet the criteria of either direct or indirect taxes.

The IRS claims that in 1913, the 16th Amendment, the income tax amendment, allowed the government a third form of taxation. What was the Supreme Court's ruling on that? ... The provisions of the 16thment Amendment conferred no new powers of taxation. The case also said that the 16th Amendment did not impose any new taxes and did not change any of the taxing restrictions of the Constituion."

"It's actually very simple. Congress tried to enact an income tax in 1894, the Supreme Court said that's unconstitutional. When the Supreme Court says something ins unconstitutional, it's unconstitutional.

They tried again in 1913 and the Supreme Court said the 16th Amendment conferred no new power of taxation.

So if they didn't have it then, and they didn't get it, they don't have it. There is no constitutional basis for attacks on the wages of Americans living and working in the 50 states of the union. Period. End of argument.

The definition of income in the Constitution was given in the Eisner versus McCumbre case. And it turns on gains or profits that are made from some activity. Doyle versus Mitchell, 247, U.S. 179, 1918. Here's what he said. The idea of gain or increase arising from corporate activities. In other words, it doesn't mean wages. It doesn't mean dividends. It doesn't mean alimony. It means a gain or profit arising from corporate activity."

"Isn't it true that the word income is not defined anywhere in the Internal Revenue Code?

The law says that the government has a right to tax income from any source derived.

So, but the word income is not defined in the code? It just says income without a definition of what income is.

That's right. That's right.

.... The definition of income in the Constitution was given in the Eisner versus McCumbre case. And it turns on gains or profits that are made from some activity. So the Supreme Court has rules. Income is not wages. It's not labor. It's gain from corporate activity."

Title 26 requires you to file a return.

But doesn't TItle 26 have to be in compliance with the Supreme Court decisions?

You're gonna take a 1920 case and superimpose it on the whole Internal Revenue Code that was written after it? No, that's not..."

"We've been brainwashed. People have been told, you know, that you need this income tax system to fund government, which is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, my question is, well, if that's true, how did we fund government from 1776 to 1913?

And a lot of people might say, well, gee, if there wasn't an income tax, what would happen to education? They don't understand, uh, that education is paid for, for the most part, out of state and local taxes, your property tax.

People might say, well, how are we gonna build and maintain our highways if there's no money coming in to the government? We need our highways. There was a tax on every gallon of gasoline that people buy.

Proceeds from the income tax do not pay for highway construction. The amount of money that we spend on defense is exactly equal to the amount of corporate income tax, which is quite legal and quite constitutional."

Answer 1

I have heard the same arguements but I also listened to a "Tax Freedom fighter" argue his points from jail. The courts are holding up the legality of having to pay income tax

Answer 2

Here is the 16th amendment: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." Could not get any more simple or straightforward. Anyone telling you that the federal income tax is unconstitutional is a liar, a madman or both.

Answer 3

US Constitution, Article 1 (Legislature), Section 8 reads as follows:

Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

The first line says it all to me. "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes". Now that sounds like the Congress has the authority to tax pretty much as they see fit.

There are a lot of people doing as you say, but I haven't heard of all sorts of them walking away after not filing taxes.

The Constitution is a framework for our government. The laws and statutes define exactly what the law will be. For example, the congress in empowered, by the Constitution, to regulate interstate commerce, not to set the speed limit at 65 MPH. So by possessing the power to tax, they have established the IRS to accomplish that task. It all sounds Constitutional to me.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Taxation is not illegal and unconstitutional because the government has the right to enforce contributions from its people in the form of taxes to raise funds in order to finance its expenses for public works and welfare.

Answer 5

The original wording of the constitution read, "All taxes shall be fair and equal" or something to that effect.