Thread: Private citizens not required to file Fed Income Tax??

There's quite a number of articles out there eluding to the same basic thing, that somehow there is no law that says we have to pay federal income tax. I don't know enough to get to the bottom of it myself, but somehow people are going to jail and/or paying fines for not paying their income tax. So, law or no law, it doesn't seem to be as simple as don't pay your tax and you have nothing to worry about.

The wiki article (Tax protester arguments - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) on the topic sheds a little more light on some of the arguments out there. And if you google to the effect of "no law requiring you to pay income tax" you'll get countless hits of everyone explaining their position on the matter.

It's definitely an interesting topic.

Originally Posted by Chris L

It's not a legal requirement for someone to play golf

The Sixteenth 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.

The way I understand it, Congress amends and approves the tax code everytime the current code is set to expire. By approving the code, Congress passes along its right to "collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived" to the IRS. So when Congress writes a law (the tax code) that says "if you are in chart A, you need to pay" then it becomes law that you are to pay

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

The Sixteenth 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.

The way I understand it, Congress amends and approves the tax code everytime the current code is set to expire. By approving the code, Congress passes along its right to "collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived" to the IRS. So when Congress writes a law (the tax code) that says "if you are in chart A, you need to pay" then it becomes law that you are to pay

This conspiracy stuff can go on forever it seems. HERE

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

This conspiracy stuff can go on forever it seems. HERE

Chris L

Yeah, I see the same wishful thinking every spring ... heightening in the days leading up to April 15.

Originally Posted by Chris L

This conspiracy stuff can go on forever it seems. HERE

Chris L

Yep http://straightrazorpalace.com/conve...ives-poll.html

This stuff comes up every now and then like an urban legend that you don't need to file taxes or pay taxes however that is wrong. You do. There is no dearth of people who claim you don't need to and they come up with all kinds of swell sounding reasons.

The reason you don't see more prosecution for tax evasion on the federal level is 1)-unless its a real big shot like that actor that they recently tried to prosecute the U.S Attorney has bigger fish to fry and will decline prosecution on nickel and dime cases and 2) Convicting someone of Tax evasion is an extremely difficult proposition because the Government has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the individual intended to engage in a scheme to not pay taxes and thats almost impossible to prove unless the person gives a statement saying just that. Failure to file is not evidence of that.

My favorite theory is that the people i work for provide me with "wages, salary and tips" not "income" i receive income on my investments. "income" being defined as profits of my investments or in business the net money after all the other taxes and liabilities have been paid.

Although some folks like that line of reasoning i simply prefer to pay the protection money to the government, (for the legal minds: How can weget the government up on RICO charges?), I have better things to do then sit a few years in prison and pay lawyers a pile of money and for that matter i do not need my house surrounded by federal agents ... like say in waco...

therefore like a good boy i send them their payment every quarter. but i send a little cash and some loose change in the envelope and staple things oddly because they like those things so much

i pay my school and county property taxes with a mix of one dollar coins and bills... they like that to make them sit there and count it out ... takes a while and i have to order the cash from the bank 3 weeks before i pay the bill.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

ah, I see. well, if that is true then that will not be good for the federal budget at all

actually an income tax holiday would be great for both the economy and the government. we would all have our paycheck availible to buy goods and services form companies that pay the business tax and import duty on goods. think about it a a ONE TRILLION Dollar stimulus package that helps everybody, rich, poop, business owner, investor, government thug...


As for the highways... some 30 odd cents of everygallon of gas goes to the federal highway fund... higher mileage vehicles means less tax revenue for roads... Detriot needs to bring back the V16 engines that got 5 mpg!

Originally Posted by syslight

i pay my school and county property taxes with a mix of one dollar coins and bills... they like that to make them sit there and count it out ... takes a while and i have to order the cash from the bank 3 weeks before i pay the bill.

But, of course, we all have to do our part to create jobs Actually I do hope when you order the amount from the bank you withhold a couple of bills so that they can do few recounts before calling you to rectify the discrepancy. And then if I were you and had time I'd ask for a recount without a machine right in front of you before you fork out the withheld amount