Do we really need to file an Income tax?

Question

A lot of people are always talking about that there's no law that requires a U.S Citizen to file an income tax, also, there is no law that even simply states that the government has the right to tax us based on our Income...

I mean this is money that we work for, why does the government just get to take it without any real reason? Where does this money go?

I mean isn't this the same reason the U.S Colony's broke free from England?

Answer 1

·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 2

Let me share with you what i learned in 8th grade government class. Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution gives congress the powers to tax. The 16th amendment to the constitution specifically gives congress the power to tax your income. The law that was written after these amendments that actually makes up the income tax law is Title 26 of the US Code.



As to your comment about the revolutionary war; that war was fought because the colonists felt they has no representation in Parliament, you have representation with your congressman, tell him about it.



While occasionally a tax protester will win a criminal trial, there has never, not even once has a tax protester won in the civil trial that always precedes the criminal trial.



These arguments have been around over 90 years now and you would think that if there was any truth to them they would have been upheld by the Supreme Court. As a matter of fact there is a $25,000 fine for bringing such frivolous arguments to court.



Ask Willie Nelson, Richard Hatch, and on January 14th when he goes to court Wesley Snipes if they think there is any such law.

Answer 3

The Colonies broke with England because, in part, of taxation without representation. You have representation; you elected them to office.



The U.S. Constitution clearly forbade income tax until it was amended to permit it. The 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913. The Populist, Socialist Labor, and Democratic Parties all pushed for a graduated income tax. Now Congress is free to impose any sort of tax they wish, and most other forms of government have happily followed their example.



Where does it go? Lots of places both silly and sublime. Some of it is in the freeway you drove down, the bridge you went over, the tunnel you went through. Some is insuring poor children. Some is rebuilding Iraq. It's all over the place.



If you don't want the government to have any of your money, make sure that you don't want anything from your government.

Answer 4

Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution lays grants the federal govt the power to "lay and collect taxes". The Constitution further specifically defines the two kinds of legal taxes the govt may lay and collect, as well as states the requirements for each kind of tax.



They are 1: Direct Tax and 2: Indirect Tax



A direct tax is, as the name implies, a tax levied directly on the individual. In order to be legal, it must be apportioned. That is, the govt must first determine the amount of revenue that will be raised, then break it out (apportion) it to the states based on the states population percentage, then the states collect it for the feds.



An indirect tax is a tax that individual pay indirectly as a corporation passes the tax on to consumers in the price of the products. These taxes usually take the form of excise taxes on certain industries (ie: the alcohol, tobacco, and firearms taxes). Tariffs also fall in this category.



Because the income tax is a DIRECT but UNAPPORTIONED it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL; the 16th amendment was introduced to resolve this. If you research the ratification of this amendment, you will find that it did not meet the legal criteria for ratification, but it was steamrolled through anyway.



Regardless, several supreme court decisions ruled that the 16th amendment did not change the taxing powers of the government. So the only logical and legal conclusion is that we are being required under threat of legal (and even lethal) force to part with personal property (earnings). IE: protection money, a.k.a. extortion.



Many will object to what I have said, will probably call me names and appeal to some socialistic and/or emotional arguments to rebut me, but the bottom line is that what I am saying is absolutely true and verifiable.



What you do with this info is up to you, but the safest course is to keep paying the protection money and hope they leave you alone.



Here's a great link to a story about a lawyer in Louisiana who won his case against the IRS on the tax liability issue (he is now suing the IRS agents who went after him - high five!)



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56855



He also started his own web site to get the truth out:



http://www.truthattack.org/



Also, check out this groups website, they are currently in the middle of a lawsuit that addresses the legality (constitutionality) of the income tax:



http://www.givemeliberty.org/

Answer 5

Are you serious? If it wasn't the law, then why would anyone pay taxes? It is the law.. what on earth makes you think it isn't the law to pay taxes? Taxes sometimes don't go where we would like them to go, but who do you think pays for schools, prisons, public libraries, public roads, welfare, we do.. the tax payers. We are 100% required to pay taxes each year and on time, by April 15th. The only time someone does not have to file taxes is if they earned no taxable income or taxes due, even then, I think I would still send in my return with zero. You are very misinformed.

Answer 6

As mentioned in other answers, one reason the colonies broke from England was taxation without representation. As a U.S. citizen, you have representation by your elected Congressmen and Senators.



Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution states, in part, "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes,..." In Article 1, Section 9, it states, "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." Some people believe that income taxes are direct taxes, however, in a Constitutional sense, income taxes are INDIRECT. I could go into a rather lengthy explanation as to why this is, but instead I'll refer to a history of income taxes in the U.S. and a couple of Supreme Court cases.



The first income tax law in the U.S. was enacted in 1861 and lasted for 11 years. In HYLTON v. U S, 3 Dall. 171 (1795), Supreme Court Justice Chase, (a member of Constitutional Convention and presumably would know what the Constitution intent was) stated, "that he was inclined to think that the direct taxes contemplated by the Constitution were only two,-a capitation tax and a tax on land." In SPRINGER v. U S, 102 U.S. 586 (1880), where the court upheld a tax upon the income of an individual, the court stated, "Our conclusions are, that direct taxes, within the meaning of the Constitution, are only capitation taxes, as expressed in that instrument, and taxes on real estate; and that the tax of which the plaintiff in error complains is within the category of an excise or duty."

In STANTON v. BALTIC MINING CO, 240 U.S. 103 (1916), the court stated, "by the previous ruling it was settled that the provisions of the 16th Amendment conferred no new power of taxation, but simply prohibited the previous complete and plenary power of income taxation possessed by Congress from the beginning from being taken out of the category of indirect taxation to which it inherently belonged..."



The 16th amendment to the Constitution which states, "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." was properly ratified. The entire reason for the amendment was to clarify the power to Congress to collect an income tax. It wasn't steamrolled through either. Congress passed the amendment in 1909 and the states took close to 4 years to ratify it. Whether the Secretary of State made any errors in declaring it ratified is now a moot point. The 16th amendment is part of the Constitution and it will take another Constitutional amendment to repeal it.



Now, for the law. The law is codified as Title 26 of the U.S. Code. It is long, complicated and boring, but you can read it at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/26/ or at http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title26/title26.html For the actual text of the laws passed by Congress, you can read them in the U.S. Statutes at large. To the best of my knowledge, these are not available online. However, you can read them at most Federal Depository Libraries. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html

Answer 7

Most websites that offer completing your tax return online will save your information as you complete each of the steps in their process. You will create an account with them using an email address so that you can work on the return at your leisure, and if you need to stop you can come back to the site and continue where you left off.

Answer 8

Who do you think pays for al the social services such as the military, federal disaster assistance, interstate highways, national parks, research funding and so forth?



I agree we should not have to pay any more than we have to, which is why you hire a professinal to minimize it, but don't you think you should have to pay something? Most countries have a MUCH higher tax rate than the US.



Come up with a better system or Quit your whining.

Answer 9

You have representation, unlike the colonists you reference.



Dont pay taxes..Go to jail..



It's how they finally got Al Capone !

Answer 10

You can't be real!