Re: POLI: Encouraging Tax Evasion

hal@finney.org
Fri, 23 Jul 1999 09:15:11 -0700

Alex Future Bokov, <alexboko@umich.edu>, writes:
> In a narrow technical sense, he might be correct. Oddly enough, most of
> the US Fed Gov's influence is derived from Article I, Section 8 of the
> Constitution, which has a clause that reads:
>
> "[Congress has the power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,
> and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes"

No, the income tax derives from the 16th amendment to the constitution, which says:

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.

Tax resisters have often looked for technicalities in the actual IRS regulations where they define "income" and "dollars" and other terms, hoping to show that the wording fails to capture most people's actual income today. All such arguments have been and will continue to be rejected, and the people involved often go to jail.

Hal