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Sunday, July 07, 2002

The 16th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified in 1913, gives Congress the power to "lay and collect taxes on incomes."

Tax protesters have been arguing that the income tax is illegal ever since, according to the Internal Revenue Service, by "stringing together unrelated ideas plucked from widely conflicting court rulings, dictionary definitions, government regulations and other sources."

These are a few of the arguments and the government's answer, from the IRS Web site:

1. Filing a tax form violates the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination or the Fourth Amendment right to privacy.

IRS response: The courts have held that disclosure of the type of routine financial information required on a tax return does not incriminate an individual or violate the right to privacy.

2. The Constitutional Amendment establishing the income tax was never properly ratified.

IRS: The 16th Amendment was properly ratified in 1913. It 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."

3. Paying taxes is voluntary.

IRS: The tax system allows taxpayers to fill out their own tax forms "voluntarily" rather than have the government do it for them.

4. The United States consists of only the District of Columbia and federal territories such as Puerto Rico and does not include the "sovereign" states.

IRS: The Internal Revenue Code imposes an income tax on all residents of the United States, including the states, and not just residents of federal territories.

5. The IRS is not a federal agency, but a private corporation, because it was not created by an act of Congress.

IRS: The Department of the Treasury has the power to administer the tax laws and create an agency to enforce them. So while the IRS itself was not created by an act of Congress, it was created through a congressionally mandated power.