Talk:Income tax

The proper way to ask where is the law for the income tax

Where is the law that requires a Doctor to pay for an income tax?

The Income tax is constitutional, the point is who does it apply to?

There are only three general possibilities for taxation: Property, Activities and People.

The Government has a constitutional duty to inform its people what it is that they are taxing specifically.

Taxing property and people is a direct tax. Taxing an activity is an indirect tax.

If the supreme court said that the 16th Amendment did not give congress any new taxing power, and if the supreme court stated that the income tax is a tax on activities (excise tax) and not the income, where in title 26 does it address my activity? I am looking for something like this: "There shall be assessed, levied, collected, and paid annually upon the gains, profits, and income received in the preceding calendar year by every citizen of the United States from any profession, trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere, or from any other source whatsoever, a tax"

Additional Details

According to the supreme court the 16th Amendment did not create the income tax and neither did it destroyed the apportionment requirement for DIRECT TAXES, although that fact is irrelevant to the question. Also the 16th Amendment is not in Title 26. According to Justice White the purpose of 16th Amendment did was to prohibit congress from labeling the income Tax a direct tax from whatever source derived. There is simply no supreme court case, post 16th Amendment, that states that the income tax is a direct tax and in fact Justice White writes that the income tax is, in its nature, an indirect tax. This means that logically speaking the income tax is an indirect tax. The Supreme Court in two post 16th Amendment, Unanimous, landmark cases, that have never been overturned, Brushaber v. Union Pacific R.R. Co., 240 U.S. 1, at 16-17 (1916), and Stanton v. Baltic Mining Co., 240 U.S. 103, at 112 (1916), stated that the income tax is an excise tax (indirect tax). Therefore my questioned is derived from the proper definition of an excise tax (indirect tax). The Supreme Court defined an excise tax as such:

“A tax laid upon the happening of an event, as distinguished from its tangible fruits, is an indirect tax.

Tyler v. United States, 281 U.S. 497, at 502 (1930)”

Another words a tax laid on an activity (event) as distinguished from its tangible fruit (property or income) is an indirect tax. Therefore the subject of the income tax is the activity that produces the income, and not the income itself. It would be an illogical conundrum to believe that the subject of an excise tax is the income. Here is another example of an indirect tax: When we pay a toll (tax) to cross a bridge, the thing being taxed is not the bridge, clearly, but the event (activity) of crossing the bridge. We are being taxed (fee) for the use of the bridge. In the payment of the toll (tax) it would not be logical to state that taxing the toll (tax) is the subject of the tax. That would mean that we are being tax for the collection of a tax!

Now that it is very clear that

1) There are only three possible taxation subjects 1) Property 2) Activities 3) People (called capitation tax, for example, during slavery)

2) The subject of an excise tax (indirect tax) is the activity,

3) That the 16th Amendment did not create the income tax (the constitutional authority is in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution)

4) That the 16th Amendment is not Title 26 (Internal Revenue Code).

5) That mumbling amongst yourself that there is a law, does not constitute law.

6) That making references to income is not addressing the subject of the income tax as in "There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of— "

7) That the statement “whatever source derived” means (according to the supreme court) all income taxes are indirect taxes from whatever source derived.

8) That any law that provides rules for collecting taxes must contend with the 6th Amendment's nature and cause, and explain, at least generally address the particular activity that is being taxed.

9) That the Income Tax is only an Indirect tax. The income tax is, in its nature, and indirect tax.  Income is property and taxing property without any reference to an activity is a direct tax.  However, it is clear that in the income tax there is reference to an activity, because it is reliant on an activity for the income to emerge.

What is not law:

- You are a taxpayer

- You have taxable income

-how do you become a taxpayer?

Because you have taxable income.

What makes your income taxable?

Because you are a taxpayer!

So the question is: I am a Doctor where in Title 26 does it say that any profession, trade, employment, or vocation is a taxable event.

Friendly reminder: While Title 26, the Internal Revenue Code, may have been affected by the 16th Amendment, the 16th Amendment is not title 26 (Internal Revenue Code). My question is specific to Title 26. Addressing the 16th Amendment is not answering the question. Furthermore, my question is not about what the government can tax or cannot tax, the question is specific to title 26 and the particular law that addresses my particular activity. Claiming that the Government can tax any activity is not addressing the question.

There are only three possible subjects of taxation in the entire world. There are no others. A government can tax property, they can tax people (as in capitation taxes when there was slavery), and they can tax activities (or variants thereof). There is simply no other logical taxable subjects anywhere. In the United States, the founding fathers addressed these as either direct or indirect taxes. We know for certain that a direct tax is a tax on property and that an indirect tax is a tax on activities and the income produced from that activity is the measurement of that activity.

This clear and simple definition has never been overturned. You could sherpadize the case if you wish, however, there are many other supreme court cases that define what an indirect tax is:

"Excises are taxes laid upon the manufacture, sale or consumption of commodities within the country, upon licenses to pursue certain (licensed) occupations and upon corporate privileges; the requirement to pay such taxes involves the exercise of privilege."

Flint vs Stone Tracy Co. 220 U.S. 107 (1911)

"Direct taxes bear immediately upon persons, upon possessions and enjoyment of rights. Indirect taxes are levied upon the happening of an event or an exchange."

Knowlton v. Moore 178 U.S. 41 (1900)

So once more: The Income Tax is an indirect tax:

“The Sixteenth Amendment simply prohibited the power of income taxation from being taken out of the category of indirect taxation”

Stanton v. Baltic Mining Co., 240 U.S. 103, at 112 (1916)

1) So it is clear that the income tax is an excise tax (indirect

2) And it is also very clear that the subject of the income tax is the activity, and not the income.

3) We also understand that the law for the collection of the Income tax resides within Title 26.

The question remains:

I am a Doctor where in Title 26 does it say that any profession, trade, employment, or vocation is a taxable event.

11 months ago