is there a law stating we have to pay income tax?

Answer 1

Yes, Title 26 of the U.S. Code.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode26/usc_sup_01_26.html

If you have watched a movie or two, or seen a website or two claiming that income taxes are illegal or that there is no law, please don't believe it. If you have seen a news story about a few idiots in NH or some lawyer from Louisiana, those people are delusional. Tax protestors or tax law deniers have constantly been shown the law. When it is shown to them, they say, "that wasn't passed by Congress" or "that's not positive law" or "it's all a government conspiracy". They will also take excerpts from the law completely out of context claiming that the law doesn't apply to them or some other stupid theory. Basically, they are all wrong. There are a few places on the Internet where tax protestor arguments are discussed and relevant case law is presented. Here are some links for you.

http://evans-legal.com/dan/tpfaq.html
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/jsiegel/Personal/taxes/861.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_constitutional_arguments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_statutory_arguments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_conspiracy_arguments
http://www.quatloos.com

Good luck

BTW: You can ignore the resident tax kook who references criminal cases. The first one is Tommy Cryer case. He was acquitted of willful failure to file, but that doesn't prove you don't have to file returns or pay taxes anymore than O.J. Simpson's acquittal proves it is o.k. to kill your ex-wife. The second case is Vernice Kuglin. She also was acquitted of willful failure to file, however, a year after she was acquitted, she settled her civil case for $530,000. She had an income of $920,000 during the years the IRS took her to court for. She would have paid about half that much if she had just paid her taxes. The final case is Lloyd Long. Basically, he plead stupidity. He too paid the IRS much more than he would have if he had properly filed his taxes.

Answer 2

Yes, there is. The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the right of the government to impose a graduated income tax upon wage and income earning citizens. SCOTUS decisions have the full weight of law.

Answer 3

You don't have to pay income tax if you don't have any income and not only that, there are lots of ways to have income that can't be proven to the government, like cash. Anyway, I don't know the answer to your question. It makes a person wonder if it is all worth it and if the government isn't giving us the once over if you know what I mean.

Answer 4

No, none at all - people just pay taxes because they can't think of anything else to do with the money {wink wink}

More seriously - yes, there's a law. There are also a number of people called tax protestors who claim that collecting taxes is illegal. They've been found wrong when it's gotten to court. Many of them have had their assets seized, and some are in prison.

Answer 5

Check out http://www.givemeliberty.org/RTPLawsuit/SignPetitions.htm
www.GiveMeLiberty.org and www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/#LatestNews
I saw this on CSpan last year. According to this group (which consists of credible professionals including former IRS agents, tax attorneys, CPAs, tax law researchers and a former IRS Counsel, the government has been illegally collecting income tax on labor since 1913.
I don't know the real answer but this group certainly deserves answers from the government...

Answer 6

In addition to 26 U.S.C., the First Article to the U.S. Constituion says that "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 it took until the Revenue Act of 1861 for the United States to actually tax people. And that was because it needed money to pay for the Civil War.

Answer 7

Yes. Income tax started way back when and was authorized by congress to pay for one war or another and we've been paying ever since. Do you really think that taxes are voluntary?

Answer 8

Of course there is! They wouldn't be collecting it if there wasn't! It's Title 26 of the US Code. Here's a link: http://www.gpo.gov/uscode/title26/title26.html

Answer 9

Yes.

Answer 10

Yes.