reply to post by unityemissions
If a few tens of millions quit paying their taxes this year or next, then the system will be underfunded, and won't even be able to process all the
people who don't pay their taxes.
In response to Boondock, you say it is not so black and white. I respectfully disagree. Boondock quoted Celente as suggesting to not pay "your
taxes". You suggest that if a few tens of millions quit paying "their taxes" that the system will be underfunded. I agree that the system will
indeed be underfunded, but both Celente, and yourself, semantically speaking are suggesting that
taxpayers engage in a form of civil
disobedience. This form of civil disobedience, when practiced en masse will, as you suggest, overwhelm the system to the point that the tax
collectors cannot deal with the problem. Actually, that is the case today.
According to
this report, 1 out of 6 Americans
"evade" the so called "income tax", and that only 1% of individual returns are being audited:
According to an IRS spokesperson in an article about anti-war tax resistance, 16.3% of Americans are in non-compliance with their taxes according
to the Associated Press. That isn't fudging the numbers or coming up with creative tax deductions; it's simply evading taxes outright. While the
story about the anti-war movement calling on people to not pay taxes to protest the war is interesting, the fact that a growing number of Americans
are simply evading taxes is startling.
According to IRS estimates, that means there is $345 billion in uncollected taxes per year or roughly 2.6% of the national GDP. As a result of
collection efforts, the IRS has generated over $48 billion of that amount in 2006 (or about 15%) according to CNN. These estimates do not include
corporations using tax shelters (which "legally" protect them from taxes) or the rich using similar tactics. In 2006, the IRS audited about 1.3
million tax returns out of 130 million filed or an audit rate of about 1% according to an IRS source quoted by CNN. With over 16% overtly flouting the
IRS, at best only 1% of those will even be challenged.
However, semantically speaking, Boondocks question was in regards to "your taxes", and your answer is that if..."their taxes". This language
implies an actual tax liability. While the article I linked suggest that 16% of the population is not paying "their taxes", this is a presumption
of guilt with no substantial evidence to support the accusation.
The real question, given the language of the tax code, is how many people who have been filing valid tax returns were actually liable for the so
called "income tax" before they assessed their own liability by filing a valid tax return?
When articles, such as the one I linked, discuss tax liability in an aggregate sense, the presumption is always that those who haven't filed are
actually liable for the tax. Is that true? The IRS tends to operate on the assumption that whomever they are investigating is liable for the tax,
and if they prosecute one of those investigated for "failure to file" or some other such infraction and it goes to trial, the prosecutor, and even
the judge all operate on the assumption that the person being charged is actually liable, and the judge will actually render a directed verdict to the
jury by instructing them that the accused "failed to file" or "did not pay their taxes", without anyone ever bothering to show how it was that
person had been made liable for the tax to begin with.
Of course, and this is for the vast majority of people earning income, the accusers will point to Section 1 of Title 26 as evidence that the person is
liable. Section 1, however, is incredibly vague in who has actually been made liable as the who is not named, and what has been declared by Section 1
is that a tax has been imposed upon
taxable income. In order to know if one is liable under this imposition, one has to know whether or not
that person has earned "taxable income". What is "taxable income"?
"Taxable income" is defined by the code in Section 63, as being either
adjusted gross income, or
gross income. So, if a person wants
to know if they are actually earning "taxable income", they must know what "adjusted gross income", or "gross income" means. "Gross income"
is defined by Section 61 of the code, and it is defined to mean, "all income from whatever source derived", but "gross income" is for people who
file by itemizing deductions. "Adjusted gross income" is for people who do not itemize deduction. What as "adjusted gross income", and how would
one determine whether or not they are going to itemize their deductions?
"Adjusted gross income" is defined by Chapter 62. In the case of an individual, this section lists several different forms of deductions, bringing
up the matter of the "
taxpayer". What, or who, is a "taxpayer"?
The term "taxpayer" is actually defined twice within the tax code. Both 7701, and 1313 define "taxpayer" as being any person subject to a tax
under applicable revenue law. Who is subject to the tax? Well, that just takes us right back to the beginning, doesn't it?
The tautological nature of the tax code, in terms of black and white, makes the code impossible to understand just precisely how a person became
subject to and/or liable for the tax to begin with.
No one I have ever met, including tax collectors, tax attorneys, tax accountants, and anyone else, has been able to effectively show that they truly
understand the tax code. Sure, plenty will claim they understand it, but when asked valid questions, such as how it is precisely a person, who say is
a shoe maker, has been made liable for a tax, and therefore a "taxpayer" as specifically defined by the code and as such, subject to the applicable
revenue laws, the house of cards collapses.
In order to rely on Section 1 as a catch all "anyone who earns income" imposition, then it would have to be either a direct tax on income as
property, or the act of earning income itself is being made taxable. The nature of the tax, and the way it is collected makes it clear it is an
indirect tax and not a direct tax. It is a uniform tax across the several states as all indirect taxes are required to be. This means the so called
"income tax" is some form of an excise tax, which means some sort of specific activity is being made liable for a tax. The act of earning income is
not specific.
This is the rub. If the activity, such as making shoes, has not been specifically named, and not indirectly named as in under the definitions of
"gross income" or "adjusted gross income", then why is is so clear a shoe maker is actually liable for the tax? What makes it so clear that a
shoemaker is actually a "taxpayer" as specifically defined by the code? What makes it so clear that a shoemaker is actually subject to the
applicable revenue laws.
Every tax has a subject. If the subject of the tax cannot be determined, this is strong evidence that there is no tax.
So, for those who pay "their taxes", they can choose to engage in civil disobedience and not pay "their taxes", but for those who have never
clearly been made liable for a tax to begin with, then the issue of paying "their taxes" is rather moot. Those not liable for a tax can't evade
paying a tax they do not owe.
I know it looks rather gray, but gray is a mixture of black and white. When we separate the black from the white of it, what becomes clear is that
the code has relied so heavily upon tautology, and circumlocution of language that it has been rendered incomprehensible. Legislation must be
comprehensible if legislatures expect to hold people subject to it, and liable for any tax it may seek to impose.
If a tax collector can't show they effectively understand the code, if a tax attorney can't show they effectively understand the tax code, if a
prosecutor can't show they effectively understand the tax code, and a judge can't show they effectively understand the tax code, it is fairly
assumed a jury will not understand the tax code, and if none of these people can understand the tax code, how would it be possible that they could
actually find someone such as, say a shoemaker who claims he doesn't understand the tax code, liable for any tax? How could a jury, in good
conscience, find someone guilty for not understanding what they themselves do not understand?
That's the black and the white of it.