Column By Mike Bibb
“Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
16th Amendment, U.S. Constitution, ratified Feb. 3, 1913.
Now that income tax season is in full swing, most people are unaware of how it started in the United States. However, they fully know its requirements and impact on their lives.
“Pay your fair share” has been drilled into their brains for so long that it seems almost as essential as breathing.
Yet, has anyone ever heard a politician or IRS official describe what paying your fair share means? Is everyone’s fair share the same? Or are some fair shares more fair than others?
Everyone knows what a sales tax, property tax, fuel tax, inheritance tax, and many others are. Their application describes them.
If a person doesn’t own property, they are not liable for a property tax assessment. If they’re a “naturalist,” they don’t pay a sales tax on a pair of Levies. (But they will if purchasing SPF-80 sunscreen lotion). If they don’t buy gas for a car, they don’t pay fuel taxes at the pump.
However, if they do all these things, the tax will be the same for everyone, regardless of their financial status or how many tax deductions they’re allowed.
But what is an income tax? More specifically, what is “income”? Does it affect everyone or only those who receive it by performing specific tasks or businesses?
Since the tax is called an “Income tax,” it isn’t an abstract term. Income must be as accurate as any other tax and pertains to “income.” That is how it is described in the 16th Amendment.
After several failed attempts to enact a federal income tax, the Supreme Court eventually approved Congressional legislation. The word “Income” was finally described as not violating an individual’s protection against direct taxation upon his labor or remuneration (payment) for his work. (Art. 1, Sec. 9, Par. 4, U.S. Constitution. Yes, this mandate is still in effect. Look it up. The 16th Amendment did not replace Art. 1., nor was Art. 1 repealed.)
The Court and Congress agreed that “income was earned from capital investment (money or property owed or used in business) and labor to produce a product or service.
It seems reasonable and in compliance with Constitutional principles.
The “Industrial Revolution” and the rise of national and multi-national corporations preceded the government’s need to tax these businesses without infringing upon the Constitutional rights of ordinary workers.
The 16th Amendment was Congress’ solution. Its contents are as valid today as 112 years ago — only adherence to its meanings has been perverted.
In other words, private and corporate businesses may earn an income from items and services sold to the public. Still, an individual working for these businesses — who does not own a part of the business or receives other compensation from the company — is not subject to an income tax on his wages or salary.
For the simple reason, he hasn’t received any financial losses or gains from the business. He was only paid for his time and labor, which isn’t a financial gain. It is merely an exchange of money for an individual’s efforts to perform a particular chore.
For example, an individual who works for a company that extracts copper ore from the ground is paid a wage or salary—and maybe some additional benefits—for their job. These are agreed-upon terms between the employee and employer. The worker receives no further financial benefit, and the company cannot pay the worker more than necessary.
Another noticeable difference is that a company often passes its operating costs to the consumer, including labor expenses, within the price of its product. A private worker cannot since they are not making or selling the item for his benefit. He’s merely fabricating something for his employer to sell to the public.
An ordinary worker does not issue and sell stock certificates himself or pay quarterly dividends for his services. Public companies do.
Nor does an ordinary worker have platoons of lawyers and accountants to figure out ways to work around or minimalize the income tax burden.
The agency collecting the taxes determines his tax deductions — the Internal Revenue Service.
The tax code is riddled with similar discrepancies and nonsensical regulations, often incomprehensible.
As a result, the system’s supposed “fairness” is inherently biased in favor of the government and wealthy corporations.
Needless to say, the days when income tax-free wages have long passed To such an extent that if an individual fails to file his annual tax forms, he can become subject to audit, investigation, fines, indictment,t, and prosecution.
How can this be? What has changed since 1913 that requires a person to submit to the yearly ritual, whether he had an income or was required to file? How did a person’s wages lawfully become income?
It’s not because the Constitution has changed or the definition of income has been repurposed. If these events had occurred, I’m sure they would have been publicly advertised and widely discussed on social media.
Nevertheless, convincing a federal court of the merits of these arguments is nearly impossible because the courts, IRS, and the entire government apparatus depend on the revenue received by this form of taxation.
It’s much more expedient to ignore the issue, limit or disallow opposing evidence, or prosecute on another charge.
Although the lawfulness of individual income tax is highly questionable, even that yearly lump of money hasn’t prevented our leaders and officials from plunging us into a $36 trillion financial sinkhole.
It’s absolute insanity.
What the hell has happened? The amount of money being taken from us is not yielding excellent results.
Long ago, tariffs on imported goods into our country were a substantial form of revenue for the government. It is still mentioned in the Constitution.
The 16th Amendment, passed in 1913, widened the revenue taxing concept to include profits and gains from income by companies and individuals employing people to produce or sell a product.
Since then, it has intentionally evolved into a government pick-pocket scam on American workers.
Over the past hundred years, the tax has morphed from primarily involving businesses to virtually everyone receiving money for anything, including a tax on a person’s right to work.
Over 150 years ago, philosopher and political theorist Karl Marx uttered his famous “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” diatribe. This twisted logic became one of the tenets of the Communist Manifesto and a theme in George Orwell’s 1945 novel Animal Farm.
Today, readers may notice the suspicious similarity between the redundant “Pay your fair share” dictum and Marx’s mumblings.
Each is as vague in logic and meaning as the other.
Where is the lawful authority for the government to act as originator, advocate, defender, judge, jury, and enforcer of the fair share tax doctrine cited? A subject of this magnitude must be well documented and upheld by Supreme Court decisions.
Where in the tax code is the definition of “income” found? Not what the IRS considers income, but the word’s real definitive legal dictionary meaning.
Somewhere along the way, we’ve drifted from a society managed by a government adhering to taxing principles limited by Constitutional prohibitions to an out-of-control revenue-collecting agency needing immediate reform, downsizing, and criminal investigation.
From the top to the bottom and every department in between. It’s time a broom is laid to this convoluted organization, sweeping out decades of accumulated abuse and misapplication of law and removing a bureaucracy that has become accustomed to doing things its way by trampling upon the rights of others.
The President and Congress are now investigating the “birthright” discussion of the 14th Amendment and the application of tariffs. They might also be concerned about the widely mismanaged and deceptive income taxation controversy.
It is, obviously, a situation adversely affecting more Americans than suspicious births by noncitizens.
Finally, the authors of the Constitution included one last mandate to make sure their decisions were complied with. Art. 6 — often referred to as the “pursuance clause” — confirms the Constitution is the “supreme law of the land” and every judge in every state is bound by its contents.
Including those deciding tax policies and their proper application.
Please don’t mention Jesus’ “Render unto Caesar” admonition (Matt. 22:21), as if the Bible proclaimed that we are expected to pay income taxes or risk the wrath of the Roman Empire (IRS).
Old Caesar and his insolent ilk were tossed from Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, further restrained on September 17, 1787, and permanently shackled by the 16th Amendment in 1913 unless constitutional guidelines were explicitly followed when extracting tributes.
Caesar may still be a loud noise in Italy, but he is just another thieving punk around here.
