Is There Any Law Requiring the Average American Citizen to Pay Income Tax? → Washingtons Blog
Is There Any Law Requiring the Average American Citizen to Pay Income Tax? - Washingtons Blog

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Is There Any Law Requiring the Average American Citizen to Pay Income Tax?

I finally watched From Freedom to Fascism, made by the producer of movies such as Trading Places, Wise Guys, and The Rose.

The film includes interesting interviews with the former IRS Commissioner and chief IRS counsel, former IRS agents, and a juror on a tax evasion case.

I am interested in whether or not the claims made in the film regarding income tax are true. If you have expertise in income tax issues, please comment below.

I am also interested in whether Ron Paul's view on income tax is right. Paul says that there may not be a legal duty for salaried employees to pay income tax, but since the government has force on its side, we will probably still get in trouble if we don't pay our income tax.

What do you think?


35 comments:

  1. With the right lawyer, judge, and jury, you can win against the IRS. But before you take this route you need to understand the consequences of losing and be willing to spend time in jail if you don't have the right lawyer, judge, or jury.

    Its sad that its come to this. Welcome to modern America. A country run by bankers for the benefit of the bankers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do taxes "pay" for anything? If the government took no taxes from us would it not have money to spend? Think about it. The government has all the money it needs. All they need to do is create money via issuing debt.

    So why do you pay taxes?

    1) Creates currency demand. Since you have to pay taxes in green slips of paper with presidents on them, you require these bills for payment for your goods and services.

    2) Taxes regulate inflation/deflation. Tax cuts happen when we live in deflationary times by allowing us to keep money to help spend and increase prices. An increase in tax payments removes our demand on the system that will cool off inflation.

    Why do you think the IRS is getting 16,500 more agents with guns? Not to make sure the government gets its revenue. No, the government needs to make sure that when hyperinflation eventually comes, people will pay their taxes, via force.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Making you aware of a tidbit
    http://www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org/articles/presidentfordsecretlyauthorizeddomesticeavesdropping

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aw you know, it is better to be late then not there at all. You are just now learning what millions already know. To bad you did not learn this while Arron was with us. He could have given you more to report. He is to be honored for giving his movie to everyone before he left us.

    To bad main stream media has been used so effectivly well to condition and dumb down the sheeple to be so apathetic, stupid, and cynical.

    Oh well, no one really cares anymore so just enjoy the last days of Pompeii while you can. We may not even see an election and another false flage planed 9/11 type Event is around the corner. Who will get the blame this time?

    Ah heck, who cares.

    Got a beer?

    Who's playing football today??

    ReplyDelete
  5. You should read this: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/friv_tax.pdf (original site here: http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=159932,00.html#_Toc153765503).

    ReplyDelete
  6. well that's almost moot now seeing as more than one third of income tax filers don't pay anything.

    ReplyDelete
  7. There is no Statute at Large which creates a specific liability for income taxes imposed by subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code:

    http://www.supremelaw.org/letters/irs.estopped.htm

    IRS tried to create the liability with a Regulation published in the Code of Federal Regulations, but Commissioner v. Acker held that a tax liability must arise from an Act of Congress, and it cannot be created by a Regulation because that would violate Separation of Powers:

    http://www.supremelaw.org/sls/2amjur2d.htm
    http://www.supremelaw.org/sls/2amjur2d.gif


    IRS and U.S. Department of the Treasury are now IN DEFAULT for failing to answer this SUBPOENA:

    http://www.supremelaw.org/press/rels/subpoena.htm
    http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/eddings/

    See Item (7) here:

    http://www.supremelaw.org/cc/williamson2/appeal/nad06.htm


    Sincerely yours,
    /s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S.
    Private Attorney General, 18 U.S.C. 1964(a)
    http://www.supremelaw.org/decs/agency/private.attorney.general.htm
    Criminal Investigator and Federal Witness: 18 U.S.C. 1510, 1512-13

    ReplyDelete
  8. What truly sickened me was a news item that stated that Halliburton was being forgiven for a $500 million tax debt.

    Let's spell that out: $500,000,000,000.00

    Why on Earth would this be okay, but Joe Public can be hounded for a paltry couple of grand?

    ReplyDelete
  9. hi, check out this article http://www.strike-the-root.com/why-joe-stack-was-so-angry

    Danielle

    ReplyDelete
  10. We are not legally required to pay taxes on wages, or, in my opinion, on any type of income at all. However, you will lose and pay huge fines, large fees, and you will go to jail.

    Pay you taxes.

    ReplyDelete
  11. See:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_statutory_arguments

    and

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_constitutional_arguments

    ReplyDelete
  12. So this is the typical argument of "pirates and emperors". Are they the same, do they act any different? Both use force to accomplish their goals. The only difference seems to be one is "elected" by the people, and the other is not.

    Think Superman .vs. Lex Luthor. They used to be friends, remember?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQBWGo7pef8

    Take a look at the 861 evidence flash presentation on the Internet, it covers things like "gains and profits" and more. You can also check out http://freedomabovefortune.com/

    cheers-

    ReplyDelete
  13. that's 500,000,000.00

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well slowly I think this issue will become moot since accordign to USA today 36% of federal income tax filers pay nothing or get a refund.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You can argue whether or not the income tax is right or does any good. You have to live in the real world however, and in the real world, income tax must be paid. Whether you pay it or not is up to you, but we all know the potential consequences. And yes the stronger and smarter pay less.

    "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."

    ReplyDelete
  16. Does Wikipedia [sic] cite Commissioner v. Acker?

    Does the IRS website cite Commissioner v. Acker?

    Does the U.S. DOJ ever cite Commissioner v. Acker?

    Here, read it for yourself:

    http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=361&invol=87

    "... [T]herefore, to uphold this addition to the tax would be to hold that it may be imposed by regulation, which, of course, the law does not permit. United States v. Calamaro, 354 U.S. 351, 359 ; Koshland v. Helvering, 298 U.S. 441, 446 -447; Manhattan Co. v. Commissioner, 297 U.S. 129, 134 ."


    Sincerely yours,
    /s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S.
    Private Attorney General, 18 U.S.C. 1964(a)
    http://www.supremelaw.org/decs/agency/private.attorney.general.htm
    Criminal Investigator and Federal Witness: 18 U.S.C. 1510, 1512-13

    ReplyDelete
  17. See how little the top 25 companies pay in tax...

    http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/01/ge-exxon-walmart-business-washington-corporate-taxes.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. stealing by any other name, such as TAXING, is still STEALING...

    ReplyDelete
  19. http://freedom-school.com/the-ucc-connection.html

    ReplyDelete
  20. i don't know about anybody else, but i enjoy driving on systematic, safe, well regulated and maintained roads. i enjoy my subsidized agriculture and transportation. i will gladly pay taxes for all of these things. for all those of you who do not want to pay taxes and would rather live in a cave, i hear afghanistan is really nice.

    all that being said, i'm all for a universal flat-rate either on income or consumption, and the real problem with our tax "system" is with taxation of corporations who pay proportionally less than an individual, yet receive the same rights as an individual in all other areas. you want to be treated like an individual? it's high time you start paying like one.

    ReplyDelete
  21. diykozmonot,

    You are proffering the usual strawman arguments.

    Roads are paid for largely by gas taxes, and if the federal government didn't pay for them, the states or local governments would.

    Nobody is arguing that there should be no taxes. People are just concerned about the legality of taxes. The existence of a tax imposed without a solid basis in law that is nonetheless enforced by the courts defies any claim that we live in a representative democracy / republic, since the basis for such a system is the rule of law, where the laws are made with the consent of the governed.

    ReplyDelete
  22. diykozmonot,

    Not only a straw man argument, but a false dichotomy to boot. You act as if the only alternatives are pay what the IRS requires, or socienty will fall apart. Not true at all. As another anon said, state governments and/or private interests will fill many needs. Other "needs" are not really needs at all, and can be done away with. Or, the federal government has miserably failed at meeting the need.

    For instance, do you know what the purpose of the Department of Energy was?

    To reduce our dependency on foreign oil. What a joke, and horrendous failure. We would be better off if the DOE had never been created. How many other federal agencies would we better of with? Department of Education? Department of Homeland Security? Department of Transportation? IRS?

    ReplyDelete
  23. OK, anonymous, maybe you are the same anonymous poster who posited the question "Do taxes "pay" for anything?" then went on with various (what i would argue were "straw man arguments" as you say) about taxes controlling inflation and deflation, which is an argument against taxes of any sort if i ever heard one.

    a tax is a tax is a tax. federal, state local, truly legal or not...my basis for all this is if you want to have anything you have to pay for it somehow correct? be it a road, or the post office or a war, and making the transaction whether by physically handing over a trailer load of precious metals, or transferring numbers on a screen it's still something that *must* be done, regardless if it's the local government or the IRS doing the collecting right??

    you say no one is arguing against taxes, yet you also in the next sentence speak on the existence of tax without a solid basis in law and and how that somehow defies claims of representative democracy. i say, that's a distraction, a straw-man argument is what you make.

    who cares whether some lawyers or hick-home-taught-scholars think they have found no "proof" of any law regarding the IRS??? it's a fact of life, and if it weren't truly legal, then why not expend some energy to some way to make it so, instead of deriding it???!! (i only make the previous statement in consideration of my above point on paying for "things" and my below point on corporations and distractions) i will argue with you in person anywhere anytime that it is a DISTRACTION from what is my main point to the basis above: that if corporations are in fact to be guaranteed the same rights and freedoms (1st amendment speech especially concerning the most heinous SCOTUS decision ever) **they should also pay like individuals**. that's what i'm arguing.

    this hysteria about the IRS is at least as old as the hysteria over peak oil, probably older.

    seriously, even though you are anonymous, you and i, we the people, are likely to have more in common than to have not, it's the corporation that keeps america divided by creating this false dichotomy, that wants the people to throw it's government out, as well as each other, and keeps fostering mass hysteria.

    summary:

    1) flat rate federal level tax for *all*, either on consumption or income.

    2) corporations *must* be taxed same as individual if they are to receive 1st amendment protections, no special treatment. see above, try to not get distracted.

    3) who will collect it??? why not the IRS? they're set up for it already...)

    sure the details would need to be worked out, but it's that simple really.

    look, why not work together to make a unified message, get people out in the streets to overthrow our corporate masters?? this is provided you agree "corporations" are the problem...otherwise all i say is moot.

    ReplyDelete
  24. oh wait, how about the anonymous post that taxing is stealing, that you as well?? arguing that taxing is stealing is arguing against tax....

    i would like to petition george to disallow anonymous comments...want to comment? make an account, show yourself!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Don't believe anything you hear. The film lies.

    ReplyDelete
  26. i'm all for making the government more streamlined, more efficient, but here you go again suggesting getting rid of everything....doenergy, dotranspo, dolabor, doia, d.o.-you-name it...

    let's hear your examples of how much better private industry is???

    i'll start:

    halliburton.

    the masses in iraq still don't have clean drinking water and stable electricity, yet halliburton has received billions to do that and more... oh sure. blame the government for giving halliburton the money in the first place because surely they (halliburton) would have done it on their own out of the goodness of their hearts because private industry is that good...

    or for a more local flavor: centerpoint energy.

    however, DISTRACTIONS ALL.

    sure government fails, but it also succeeds.

    our government *almost* got the message from "we the people" wayy back during the final few months of W's term when the very first 'bailout' failed because of the public outcry.....but the banks won..

    you and i can agree that it can and should be done better right? then there's no reason we cannot take to the streets, nae, no reason we *should not* be taking to the streets every single day to demand better than we're getting, to demand in the case of failure that we try again and get it right.

    ReplyDelete
  27. hey dizykozmonot,
    income tax is used to pay down the national debt, not to build roads. maybe we should let free enterprise take care of things like roads and trash collection, it'd be a lot more efficient and cost a lot less...check out MISH's post about this http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/04/trash-collecting-entrepreneur-squashed.html

    ReplyDelete
  28. I have a question?

    Under Article I section 9 of the Constitution it says "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid" so how does the income tax get around this? Before you jump an say the 16th Amendment look at what the Supreme Court had to say about the 16TH Amendment.

    "The Sixteenth Amendment.....does not extend the taxing power to new or excepted subjects....
    Peck & Co. v. Lowe, 247 U.S. 165, at 172 (1918)

    The Supreme Court ruled exactly that in Eisner v. Macomber, 252 U.S. 189 (1920), where the Court stated the following: “The 16th Amendment must be construed in connection with the taxing clauses of the original Constitution and the effect attributed to them before the Amendment was adopted.”

    What this means is the taxing power congress had before the 16th Amendment remained the same after the 16th Amendment.

    Do you not find it odd that the the income tax started right after the Private Fed started in 1913???

    Besides income itself is not a tax.........the word income is the tool used to measure the amount of tax that is due from the activity or source that is being taxed. Does your wages or labor fall under one of these?

    ReplyDelete
  29. The “income” tax is a bit mislabeled. It is a banking fee, based on one’s usage, of the Federal Reserve System. The FRS is in place due to the international bankruptcy of the title 28 USC Federal corporation “United States”, which masquerades as the federal government, and is also municipal in organization. All governing entities, regardless of level, are municipal corporations. The Constitutionality of such a system of governance is located in the last clause of Article 1-Section 8, and each muni-corp is a franchise of the above-mentioned “United States”, as is each cestui que fiction (all caps strawman). Your labor goes on behalf of the ’strawman’ fiction, within the FRS. As stated above, this is going on due to the international bankruptcy of the muni-corp. The republic lost its sovereignty in 1789 (international bankruptcy #1), with the unpaid debt of the revolution, resulting in the bankruptcy-security document we call the Constitution. The states lost their sovereignty in 1859 (bankruptcy #2). The people lost their sovereignty in 1929 (#3), and the nation lost its ability to generate its own wealth (jobs sent overseas and foreign corps move to US soil) in 1999 (#4). Clearly, this is a very brief overview of what has happened.
    You may want to check-out the following site:
    http://www.creditorsincommerce.com/
    Thanks for your time.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Yes, the income tax liability (law) is found in the 1935 Social Security Act. And it is in addition to the SS tax which the supreme court has ruled is also an income tax.

    ReplyDelete
  31. 1935 Social Security Act

    TITLE VIII- TAXES WITH RESPECT TO EMPLOYMENT

    INCOME TAX ON EMPLOYEES

    SECTION 801. In addition to other taxes, there shall be levied, collected, and paid upon the income of every individual a tax equal to the following percentages of the wages (as defined in section 811) received by him after December 31, 1936, with respect to employment (as defined in section 811) after such date: (1) With respect to employment during the calendar years 1937, 1938, and 1939, the rate shall be 1 per centum. (2) With respect to employment during the calendar years 1940, 1941, and 1942, the rate shall 1 ´ per centum. (3) With respect to employment during the calendar years 1943, 1944, and 1945, the rate shall be 2 per centum. (4) With respect to employment during the calendar years 1946, 1947, and 1948, the rate shall be 2 ´ per centum. (5) With respect to employment after December 31, 1948, the rate shall be 3 per centum.

    COLLECTION AND PAYMENT OF TAXES

    SEC. 807. (a) The taxes imposed by this title shall be collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury and shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States as internal- revenue collections. If the tax is not paid when due, there shall be added as part of the tax interest (except in the case of adjustments made in accordance with the provisions of sections 802 (b) and 805) at the rate of one-half of 1 per centum per month from the date the tax became due until paid.

    (b) Such taxes shall be collected and paid in such manner, at such times, and under such conditions, not inconsistent with this title (either by making and filing returns, or by stamps, coupons, tickets, books, or other reasonable devices or methods necessary or helpful in securing a complete and proper collection and payment of the tax or in securing proper identification of the taxpayer), as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.

    (c) All provisions of law, including penalties, applicable with respect to any tax imposed by section 600 or section 800 of the Revenue Act of 1926 and the provisions of section 607 of the Revenue Act of 1934, shall, insofar as applicable and not inconsistent with the provisions of this title, be applicable with respect to the taxes imposed by this title.

    (d) In the payment of any tax under this title a fractional part of a cent shall be disregarded unless it amounts to one-half cent or more, in which case it shall be increased to 1 cent.

    RULES AND REGULATIONS

    SEC. 808. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall make and publish rules and regulations for the enforcement of this title.

    http://www.nationalcenter.org/SocialSecurityAct.html

    ReplyDelete
  32. As can be seen in the 1935 Social Security Act Arron Russo as well as many others (i.e. Irwin Shiff) are sadly wrong in their assertions.

    ReplyDelete
  33. So the 1935 Social Security Act overrides the Constitution???

    Under Article I section 9 of the Constitution it says "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid"

    So how does the 1935 Social Security Act get around this? Unless its voluntary.....

    ReplyDelete
  34. 31 Questions The IRS does not want you to know.

    http://truth11.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/31-questions-and-answers-about-the-internal-revenue-service-what-the-irs-doesnt-want-you-to-know/

    This article will answer your question regarding taxation.

    ReplyDelete
  35. does the irs pay taxes on the money they take from us? if they dont then we shouldent pay a dime

    ReplyDelete

→ Thank you for contributing to the conversation by commenting. We try to read all of the comments (but don't always have the time).

→ If you write a long comment, please use paragraph breaks. Otherwise, no one will read it. Many people still won't read it, so shorter is usually better (but it's your choice).

→ The following types of comments will be deleted if we happen to see them:

-- Comments that criticize any class of people as a whole, especially when based on an attribute they don't have control over

-- Comments that explicitly call for violence

→ Because we do not read all of the comments, I am not responsible for any unlawful or distasteful comments.