Re: POLI: Encouraging Tax Evasion

From: hal@finney.org
Date: Fri Jul 23 1999 - 10:15:11 MDT


Alex Future Bokov, <alexboko@umich.edu>, writes:
> In a narrow technical sense, he might be correct. Oddly enough, most of
> the US Fed Gov's influence is derived from Article I, Section 8 of the
> Constitution, which has a clause that reads:
>
> "[Congress has the power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,
> and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes"

No, the income tax derives from the 16th amendment to the constitution,
which says:

   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.

Tax resisters have often looked for technicalities in the actual IRS
regulations where they define "income" and "dollars" and other terms,
hoping to show that the wording fails to capture most people's actual
income today. All such arguments have been and will continue to be
rejected, and the people involved often go to jail.

Hal



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:04:33 MST