Have you ever seen a law that requires you to file and pay income tax?

Question

Fact is, there is no law that requires the average American citizen, working in private (non-government) business or jobs to file and pay federal income taxes, and certain states as well.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173

Answer 1

Another person who actually believes the c**p in Freedom to Fascism.

The movie "Freedom to Fascism" is inaccurate, conspiracy theory nonsense.I suggest you go to http://evans-legal.com/dan/tpfaq.html and lookup almost every point in the film. I also recommend that you try and verify different quotes from the film from RELIABLE websites.

Federal income taxes are NOT UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The IRS is NOT ABOVE the Supreme Court. It just happens to be the case that the IRS usually acts within the law.

Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution states, in part, "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,..."

Income taxes are legal under the Constitution because income taxes are INDIRECT taxes in a Constitutional sense. In HYLTON v. U S, 3 U.S. 171 (1796), a Supreme Court that included at least two of the original framers of the Constitution, Justice Samuel Chase stated, "...the direct taxes contemplated by the Constitution, are only two, to wit, a capitation, or poll tax, simply, without regard to property, profession, or any other circumstance; and a tax on LAND."

In 1861, the first income tax law in the U.S. was passed. In Springer v. United States, 102 U.S. 586 (1880) (A Supreme Court case), the court had to consider whether an income tax on an individual was constitutional. 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." Springer was the plaintiff in error. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the income tax law that was in effect in 1865.

After the ratification of the 16th amendment, the Supreme Court in STANTON v. BALTIC MINING CO, 240 U.S. 103 (1916) 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..."

BTW, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which later became the IRS, was established in 1862.

The book, "The Law that Never Was" by Bill Benson has been completed refuted. Also, no court has EVER accepted any of the arguments brought forth in that book. Here is a court case that discussed the book. In U.S. v. Thomas, 788 F.2d 1250 (7th Cir. 1986), cert. den. 107 S.Ct. 187 (1986), the court stated,

[QUOTE]

"Benson and Beckman did not discover anything; they rediscovered something that Secretary Knox considered in 1913. Thirty-eight states ratified the sixteenth amendment, and thirty-seven sent formal instruments of ratification to the Secretary of State. (Minnesota notified the Secretary orally, and additional states ratified later; we consider only those Secretary Knox considered.) Only four instruments repeat the language of the sixteenth amendment exactly as Congress approved it. The others contain errors of diction, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. The text Congress transmitted to the states was: “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.” Many of the instruments neglected to capitalize “States,” and some capitalized other words instead. The instrument from Illinois had “remuneration” in place of “enumeration”; the instrument from Missouri substituted “levy” for “lay”; the instrument from Washington had “income” not “incomes”; others made similar blunders.

“Thomas insists that because the states did not approve exactly the same text, the amendment did not go into effect. Secretary Knox considered this argument. The Solicitor of the Department of State drew up a list of the errors in the instruments and--taking into account both the triviality of the deviations and the treatment of earlier amendments that had experienced more substantial problems--advised the Secretary that he was authorized to declare the amendment adopted. The Secretary did so."

Although Thomas urges us to take the view of several state courts that only agreement on the literal text may make a legal document effective, the Supreme Court follows the “enrolled bill rule.” If a legislative document is authenticated in regular form by the appropriate officials, the court treats that document as properly adopted.

[END QUOTE]

A few sentences later in the same decision, the court continues, "Secretary Knox declared that enough states had ratified the sixteenth amendment. The Secretary’ decision is not transparently defective. We need not decide when, if ever, such a decision may be reviewed in order to know that Secretary Knox’ decision is now beyond review."

[END QUOTE OF CASE]

Judge Fox's statement was in the context of giving an example. He was not making a statement of fact. The comments made by Judge Fox were made in passing, without judicial review, and in a case that had nothing to do with the 16th amendment. In the end, the Judge also said that he didn't think any court would ever set it aside.

The current income tax laws are codified as Title 26 of the U.S. Code. You can read them at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/26/usc... or at http://uscode.house.gov/download/title_2...

It is long and boring reading, but they are all there. The sections that apply to most people are sections 1, 61, 62, 63, 3402, 6011, and 6012.

The Federal Reserve act was properly passed by Congress and does not require a Constitutional amendment. While the Federal Reserve Act was passed on Dec. 23, 1913, according to the Congressional record, the bill passed the house by a count of 298 to 60. 358 members voted out of 435, that's pretty good attendance. That's probably better attendance than the current House of Representative gets on most days. The Senate passed the bill with a vote of 43 to 25. That's 68 members voted out of 96. Again, that is good attendance.

The quote by Woodrow Wilson that the film says he made in 1919 is false. First, there is no record anywhere that Woodrow Wilson said the first part of that quote. The rest of the quote is taken from Woodrow Wilson's book, "The New Freedom". However, "The New Freedom" was published in 1913! Also, the book is actually a compilation of speeches he made on the campaign trail during 1911 and 1912. He was really discussing corporate monopolies and not the Federal Reserve (which didn't exist yet) or the banks. You can read "The New Freedom" for yourself at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14811

The Federal Reserve is independently audited every year. Those audits and more are part of the Federal Reserve annual report to Congress.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/...

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/...

Look at all I have written refuting many points in the movie, "Freedom to Fascism" and that's only the first five minutes of it.

There are many more quotes in the movie that are taken completely out of context and there are many claims in the movie that are just plain wrong.

BTW, Sherry Peel Jackson, one of the people interviewed in the movie was tried for willful failure to file and tax evasion on Oct. 29 and 30, 2007. GUILTY on all counts. Sentencing was on February 14, 2008 and she was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Additionally, SHE STILL HAS TO PAY HER TAXES.

A few people have successfully beaten criminal charges, but that doesn't mean there isn't a law any more than O.J. Simpson's acquittal means there isn't a law concerning the murder of your ex-wife.

To summarize, there is a law concerning income taxes, it is Title 26 U.S.C. If you earn more than the standard deduction, you must file tax returns. Wages from a job are income. Income is NOT limited to corporate profits. The Federal Reserve is not some great conspiracy. etc. etc.

Answer 2

I agree with you. It is not illegal to not pay income taxes. If you choose to not pay taxes however, you cannot partake in any government aid, subsidies, etc.

Answer 3

Ask Wesley Snipes.

Answer 4

Sure I have. Title 26 of the US Code

Fact is that movie is about as factual as "ET" or "Cinderella." Anyone who thinks otherwise is suffering from a serious break from reality.

Let me ask YOU a question. If there is no law, what the h**l was Wesley Snipes just convicted of? If there ain't no law, you CAN'T be convicted of breaking it! Sheesh!

Tommy Crier did NOT win based upon his claim that there was no law. He convinced a Louisiana jury that, even though he was an attorney, he was too stupid to know that he was required to pay income taxes. That doesn't speak very well of LA juries but one should also note that Mr Crier was disbarred by the LA Bar shortly after his acquittal. You should also note that the court did stick him with $5,000 in fines for attempting to raise a spurious defense, i.e. that there was no law. Oh, and by the way, that was the criminal charge. He lost on the civil case regarding the tax debt. By the time he pays it all off, he will have paid nearly 20 times the original debt once penalties, interest, and legal costs are added together. IMHO, that is the definition of STOOPID!

Answer 5

Tell that to Wesley Snipes.

Answer 6

Don't tell us this just do it and when you are in jail we will talk.

Answer 7

Its called the 16th Amendment to the Constitution:

"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."

Answer 8

Except for the ones that countless courts at all levels have based their rulings upon.