Is there a law which requires private citizens to pay federal income tax?

Question

I have been hearing that there is no actual law to this effect.
Could this be true? Please cite the specific laws and supreme court rulings which are relevant, if you can.

An 11 part documentary asking the same question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ueEfRXZCVA

Thank you all for your help in exposing this lie. With a little research I found: TITLE 26 > Subtitle F > CHAPTER 61 > Subchapter A > PART II > Subpart B > § 6012, and it cleadly is law. I also read every single court case described in the documentary, and only one was accurataely described, and even that one was poorly interperetited. This has only taken me 4 hours or so to debunk.

Answer 1

Yes, there is such a law. The 'documentary' you referenced called "Freedom to Fascism" is a just conspiracy thinking proganda.

But don't take my word for it. From the NY Times:

"Facts Refute Filmmaker’s Assertions on Income Tax in ‘America’"

"...examination of the assertions in Mr. Russo’s documentary.. shows... they ... collapse under the weight of fact."

"Many of the reviews in major newspapers have accepted as having some factual basis the film’s main contention, ... even though every court that has ever ruled on these issues has upheld the constitutionality of the income tax.

"... Mr. Russo says ...that the Internal Revenue Service has refused every request to show any law making Americans liable for an income tax on their wages. ... Yet among those thanked in the credits for their help in making the film is Anthony Burke, an I.R.S. spokesman. Mr. Burke said that when Mr. Russo called him asking what law required the payment of income taxes on wages, he sent Mr. Russo a link to documents, including Title 26 of the United States Code, citing the specific sections that require income taxes be paid on wages. Title 26 says on its face that it is law enacted by Congress."

"..Arguments made in court that the income tax is invalid are so baseless that Congress has authorized fines of $25,000 for anyone who makes them..."

"... Mr. Russo says in the film that the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified and thus a tax on wages is unconstitutional. This claim has been made in various forms by thousands of tax protesters since 1913, and so far their batting average with the courts is .000.
To buttress the claim that the 16th Amendment is invalid, the film displays a quotation from a federal district judge, James C. Fox. But the transcript from which the judge’s words were taken shows that while he spoke those words, they were in the context of laying out issues and that the conclusion he reached was the opposite of the words quoted."

(ref: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/movies/31russ.html?ei=5088&en=05c0d0988f58fc50&ex=1311998400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rs )

- And those income tax laws the filmmaker could not find?

The Income Tax laws are codified in the U.S. Code. Check out:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Income_tax
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sup_01_26_10_A.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00006012----000-.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00000001----000-.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00000003----000-.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00006651----000-.html

The U.S. Code is derived from acts of congress. For the major acts passed by congress regarding the Federal Income Tax...

Revenue act of 1862:
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Revenue_Act_of_1862

1894 Income Tax and the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act:
http://law.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/income-tax-wilson-gorman-tariff-act

Revenue act of 1913:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_Act_of_1913
http://law.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/federal-income-tax

Internal Revenue Code of 1954:
http://law.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/internal-revenue-act
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Code_of_1954
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Code_of_1954

Tax reform act of 1986:
http://www.answers.com/topic/tax-reform-act-of-1986
http://law.enotes.com/major-acts-congress/tax-reform-act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986

Answer 2

What you say might be technically true but legally and practically irrleavant. There are legal precidents out the ying yang and if you study law you will realize that legal precedents in some cases carry more force than the law itself. Taxation of the public by the legislature is both legal and proper and constitutional. The fact that there is no specific federal law that proscribes punishment is irrelavant, except as an intellectual curiosity. Don't take this to mean that the government is acting illegally in requring you to pay taxes, that is simply a crazy person's argument.

Answer 3

This tired old question gets asked daily here. Just search the old questions and you will find all your answers.....with tons of research and documentation.

For the last time, IT IS A LIE THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY INCOME TAXES. This has been repeatedly shot down by the courts. If you try this with the IRS, they will slap you with additional penalties for frivolous arguments......they're a little tired of this.

The 16th amendment authorizes the imposition of an income tax. The Tax Code is the codification of that tax.

If there were no taxes, there would be no clean water, no government, no military, no social services, no public schools, no roads, no police, no courts, no firemen, no county hospitals to treat all the uninsured people, and on and on and on.
Running a country and all of the services that people demand as "rights" takes money. You benefit from some of these services, therefore you must pay your share for them.

So give it a rest and pay your damn taxes like the rest of us.

U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 2:
"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, ..."

U.S. Constitution, Article 1, section 8:
"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; ..."

U.S. Constitution, Amendment XVI:
"Amendment XVI
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."

U.S. Constitution, Amendment X:
"Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." (States have the power to impose state taxes too... just look at each state's constitution, you will see similar provision as those in the U.S. Constitution.)

Our current tax laws have their basic structure from the Internal Revenue Act of 1954. Various acts have been passed since that time to modify the tax laws but the basic structure is the same. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was the most extensive modification. All of the tax acts were passed by Congress and signed into law by a President. Anyone can view the text of the actual acts by looking in the U.S. Statutes at Large. The Income Tax Act of 1954 is in Vol. 68A. The income tax laws are codified in the U.S. Code as Title 26.

Basically, it's not one little law that can be cited. It's an entire section of them.....I believe the last count was 38,000 pages of them.

Answer 4

I hope this helps. I found the info for you on the web. It is a law and if you don't file taxes properly that is when the IRS audits you. Also, on the website defines the sixteenth amend. and case law pertaining to income tax.

The federal government of the United States imposes a progressive tax on the taxable income of individuals, corporations, trusts, decedents' estates, and certain bankruptcy estates. Some state and municipal governments also impose income taxes. The first Federal income tax was imposed (under Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution) during the Civil War, then again in the 1890s, and again after the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified in 1913. Current income taxes are imposed under these constitutional provisions and various sections of Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, including 26 U.S.C. § 1 (imposing income tax on the taxable income of individuals, estates and trusts) and 26 U.S.C. § 11 (imposing income tax on the taxable income of corporations).

United States
Main article: Income tax in the United States
The United States imposes an income tax on individuals, corporations, trusts, and certain estates. This tax is imposed on the income event, such as the receipt of wages. Another example of an income event is the realization of a gain on the disposition of property; that is, the appreciation on the value of property is not taxed until that property is sold (i.e., when the gain is "realized").

The U.S. income tax was first proposed during the War of 1812, but was defeated.[4] In July 1861, the Congress passed a 3% tax on all net income above $600 a year (about USD 10,000 today). Income taxes were enacted at various times until 1894, but were not imposed after 1895 when an 1894 tax act was found to be unconstitutional. In response, the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913.[4] Ratification has been unsuccessfully disputed by some tax protestors claiming, among other things, that slight errors in punctuation in the various instruments ratified by the several states invalidates the ratification. Tax protestors have also made other arguments about the validity of the U.S. income tax, without success (see Tax protester arguments).

The 2007 individual federal income tax rates are between 10% and 35%, depending on income and family status. People with relatively low incomes may pay no income tax, or may receive earned income tax credits (tax benefits); however, this does not include income based payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities states that three-fourths of taxpayers pay more in payroll taxes than they do in income taxes.[15] IRS data indicate that the wealthiest 5% of taxpayers (ranked by AGI, counting only returns with positive AGI) paid roughly 60% of all income taxes; the bottom 50% of taxpayers account for just 3% of income taxes paid.[16]



[edit] U.S. state

Answer 5

The 'documentaries' which you have seen have been around for decades now. There is a given segment of the population which thinks that there's no legal basis for collection of an income tax. Of course, they are wrong. The 16th Amendment to the Constitution legalized income taxation, and has been followed by numerous court challenges, all of which have failed.

Answer 6

I don't know the name of the law but it was part of a war funding act during WW11 that was never repealed (income tax deductions from pay check). The Federal government can tax per the Constitution.

Answer 7

THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW UNTIL I SAW THEM ON THE INTERNET:

Nobody ever really landed on the moon - it was a giant hoax. What you saw on TV was filmed in Utah.

Elvis is still alive, and performing marriage ceremonies in Las Vegas.

It is unconstitutional for the government to tax your wages (income tax), and most of what we think of as income isn't really income anyway.

Excuse me now....I just won 2 million pounds in the online UK lottery when my email was randomly selected, and I have to go answer the email.....

Answer 8

Title 26 - Internal Revenue Code (look it up)

There are so many inaccuracies in the "Freedom to Fascism" movie it isn't funny.

Answer 9

Thre may be nothing official on the books, but you don't the taxes and see what happens to you and your possessions.