IRS Agents/CPAs - Is Income Tax Legal?
I've been reading a book that contends that income tax is a voluntary tax and not legal to enforce. furthermore all IRS siezures and harrasment is totaly illegal. Does any one think contrary to this? can anyone show me a passage in the law that requires a person to pay taxes based on what they earn? It is an interesting book. it says that the income tax is a big scam ammounting to billions of dollars annually. So lets hear your feed back.
Josh
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There have been lots of Fed convictions of folk who thought it illegal, so apparently those arguments don't hold up very well.
I suggest you take the time to read this article posted on the www.IRS.gov website
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=106498,00.html
Sounds good in theory, but I would ask if the author of the book has sucessufly challenged paying his taxes and won?
What's the name of the book? Is it by Irwin Schiff?
Okay, it's obvious to any first-year law student that the income tax is voluntary (no law exists that requires the filing of a return, because such a law would violate the Fifth Amendment). BUT, that still will not prevent you from being prosecuted or having your property seized. The juries are easily misled, and the judges will not hesitate to break the law to illegally incarcerate you. It's a game you cannot win. Hopefully, we will move towards a fairer system in the near future, but in the meantime, my advice is to play by their rules and use their system to get wealthy. Leave the fighting to the martyrs.
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I saw someone on TV a few years ago making this voluntary argument they were not paying taxes and advised people to do the same. I later read that they were convicted and sent to prison.
Even if there is not statute, there is plenty of common law precident to be used for a conviction.
Interesting bit of trivia. I did not know this.
I've said it before and i'll say it again--no one has ever gone broke paying taxes!
Hey,
Hmmmm....I would go with the 16th Amendment of the Constitution as to the specific law that allows income tax.
The book is not worth the paper and ink.
The 16th Amendment created the income tax, but it's not a tax on income that violates the 5th Amendment--it's the way that tax is enforced. Even the IRS' own publications state that the income tax is based upon "voluntary compliance." If so, then what is the difference between voluntary compliance and compulsory compliance? And why is the term voluntary compliance ONLY used with income taxes and nowhere else in the criminal code? Still, many courts have claimed that tax returns are required, so that would now be a better argument--that tax returns are compelled testimony and thus inadmissable in court. Bottom line: File, pay, and play by their arbitrary rules if you want to be wealthy in this country. The IRS isn't as concerned about nonfilers as they are about the vocal tax protesters who adversely affect compliance.
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I say give it a try. Let us know how it turns out.
You are absolutely right. Paying Income Tax IS VOLUNTARY. So is paying for the goods you want at a store. Yet if you try to exercise your want not to pay, you have consequenses. Any unlike jailtime, the IRS charges a hefty interest rate on your time of not paying income taxes. The real idiots are the people who draw attention to themselves from the IRS by writing books and articles!
That "big scam" pays for the services we take advantage of everyday. Military protection, federal and state gov't programs, etc.
By the way, lots of real estate investors will tell you that there are ways to not pay income tax. Get enough investment property to depreciate, and sell mostly cap gains property, or 1031 exchange those profits, and you'll not pay much to any income tax for a very long time - legally.
-Joe
So if it is illegal to impose income tax and illegal to collect it by force, why do we all jump on the bandwagon and pay it? What a harassment! The tax code says you are required to pay the tax you are liable for. That's nice so where does it make you liable for income tax? Well if you are not manufacturing or selling tobacco, alcohol, and firearms you are not liable for an income tax. I may very well file for now because I am not making enough to pay taxes but soon I will be making a lot of money I can always find deductions, but it would be so much easier to not file at all. We'll see. I bring this up so you can start to ask questions about "the systems" because I don't advocate blindly following just because someone who appears to know it all says so. Just like going to school to get that good job with a company that will take care of you for the rest of your life. Which advice we all know is a farce, and has absolutely no place in the information age. So do as you like, but I never have and never will do something just because someone said so.
Josh
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You are correct; all the enforcement provisions of Title 26 (Tax Code) relate only to alcohol and tobacco. Still, it's a stacked deck against anyone who tries to assert their constitutional rights as they relate to the IRS or the income tax.
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Although I do tind all the comments interesting, it's not really practical legal info for what we're about here, so I'm locking it up on Legal Forum.
BUT I suggesst you go post this over at general forum, where anything, and everything is discussed and hashed, as it is interesting.
John Merchant