10 Arguments Against Paying Taxes (That Won’t Work)

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10 Arguments Against Paying Taxes (That Won’t Work)

by Greg Sabin - April 14, 2010 - 9:09 AM

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No one can accuse the IRS of not being thorough. On their website, they’ve addressed some of the more common arguments that folks have made to avoid paying taxes. Most of these arguments have gone to the courts numerous times and found to be without merit. So if you don’t want to pay your taxes, you’ll have to dream up something more creative than these 10 examples.

1. Taxes are “voluntaryâ€

This argument comes from a misunderstanding of the word “voluntary,†which appears in a few tax-related sources, including the instructions that come with your 1040 tax form. Unfortunately, the legal definition of the word “voluntary†in this case refers to the process by which taxpayers report and pay taxes on voluntarily reported income, as opposed to a system where the government just tells you what to pay and you fork it over. And don’t think that you can be tricky and say that filing a tax return might be mandatory but paying the taxes is voluntary. They’ve already thought of that one, too.

2. Compensation is not income

Here’s the argument: If I work for compensation, then I’m not actually profiting. I’m just bartering my time for money, which is a zero-sum transaction, and, consequently, I have no gain or profit that can be legally taxed. This can be misconstrued as an “exchange†and not actually income. The IRS rebuttal: Clever, but not convincing.


3. Taxes in America aren’t for Americans

Apparently there’s a sentence or two in the tax code (which is over 50,000 pages, by the way) that discriminates between U.S. and non-U.S. source income. It’s just a small point explained so that folks don’t pay double taxes if they happen to have income from multiple countries. A few individuals have plucked this one little idea and claimed that no taxes are due on income earned in America by Americans. Only aliens have to pay. The IRS rebuttal: Read the other 49,999 pages and get back to us.

4. Money isn’t legal tender

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Some folks are a little peeved that they can’t take a couple of Benjamins into their local banks and exchange them for equal amounts of silver or gold. They therefore claim that the income they earn paid in such “worthless†tender cannot be taxed, as it inherently has no value. Truth is, they’ve got nothing to be peeved about. Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution says that the states cannot declare anything as legal tender other than gold and silver, but imposes no such limits on the Congress. So if you’re paid in “worthless†Federal Reserve notes, you’re welcome to donate them to the mental_floss Christmas party fund, but you still have to pay your taxes on them.


5. I am not a citizen

Some creative former accountants and militia members got together and figured out that if they rejected their U.S. citizenship in favor of their state citizenship, they’d be outside of the tax-levying powers of the IRS. Or, put more succinctly, “I am a free-born citizen of (insert Mountain West state here), and you have no right to my money, Mr. Tax Man.†The IRS rebuttal: Creative? Probably. Creepy and unconvincing? Definitely.

6. “The U.S.†only includes federal land

Another state’s rights argument claims that states are sovereign and only federal lands such as the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and federal enclaves like reservations and military bases are subject to federal taxation. The IRS rebuttal: Seriously? We’ve got a baby shower in the third floor break room to go to and you’re taking up our time with this?


7. Individuals aren’t people

I’m just going to quote the IRS on this one since it’s pretty priceless: “Some maintain that they are not a ‘person’ as defined by the Internal Revenue Code, and thus not subject to the federal income tax laws. This argument is based on a tortured misreading of the Code.â€

What misreading you might ask? Well, the code defines a person as “an individual, trust, estate, partnership, or corporation.†I can state without much reservation that I personally am not a trust, or even a partnership, but I’d have a hard time arguing that I am not an individual. This sounds like a claim for rhetoric or philosophy majors only.


8. My religion doesn’t believe in taxes

Whether your religion doesn’t like taxes or doesn’t like the programs those taxes fund, the courts have held that “necessities of revenue collection through a sound tax system raise governmental interests sufficiently compelling to outweigh the free exercise rights of those who find the tax objectionable on bona fide religious grounds.†Nice try, though.


9. I plead the Fifth

This is a beautiful legal argument. If I have income from illegal sources, then the reporting of such income forces me to incriminate myself in direct opposition to the rights granted me by the Fifth Amendment. However, the Supreme Court has established “that the self-incrimination privilege can be employed to protect the taxpayer from revealing the information as to an illegal source of income, but does not protect him from disclosing the amount of his income.†Basically, you don’t have tell us your income came from illegal iguana smuggling, but you still have report the income. 


10. Taxes are slavery

This argument asserts that the compelled compliance with federal tax laws is a form of servitude in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment. The short rebuttal: It isn’t. The long rebuttal: It isn’t, and that’s insulting to millions of people descended from the people the Thirteenth Amendment was meant to protect.

 
I am not surprised some people try to use these arguments. Some people will try anything!

 
How about the best reason...."income" taxes are unconstitutional. They're deposited in offshore banks held by the elite.

Why? The government doesn't need our money. They print all they want, because our dollars are no longer backed by gold or silver. Do the research and you'll find it's true.

Start with the video "Creature from Jekyll Island" on YouTube (or read the book) and learn about the founding of the Federal Reserve, which is a private bank.

 
11. As Loretta Helmsley strongly believed that only the small people pays taxes. Funny how many large corporations also believe this fallacy even today.

 
I used to work with a guy that is in some type of muslim religion that does not pay taxes. He did not pay state taxes or federal taxes. The only deduction in his check was social security, I actually seen his stub on payday because many of us co-workers didn't believe it. His group went threw some process to be tax-exempt. He carried around some type of certificate that was supposedly the proof that exempted him from taxes.

 
Originally Posted by Sassybanjo /img/forum/go_quote.gif How about the best reason....taxes are unconstitutional. They're deposited in offshore banks held by the elite.
Why? The government doesn't need our money. They can print all they want, because our dollars are no longer backed by gold or silver. Do the research and you'll find it's true.

Start with the video "Creature from Jekyll Island" on YouTube (or read the book) and learn about the founding of the Federal Reserve, which is a private bank.

You can't be serious that the government doesn't need our money, or that taxing US citizens is unconstitutional. Section 8 of the Constitution, very first sentence: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excisesshall be uniform throughout the United States." And printing massive amounts of money does nothing but cause unstoppable inflation. Our economy would be in shambles if the government just decided to start printing a ton of money and get rid of federal taxes. See also: Zimbabwe's financial reforms and the trillions-percentage inflation it caused.
 
Thanks for pointing out my errors. I meant to state, "income" taxes are unconstitutional. Sure taxes are needed and collected for defense. It was originally referred to as the "Victory" tax and was only collected at times of war. It wasn't deducted from payroll. The IRS is not constitutional, in fact I encourage you to find and income tax "law" on the books. An IRS agent (Sherry Peel Jackson) wasn't able to find it in the IRS code. There's informative videos on YouTube where she shared her story and she has an official website, I'm not allowed to post here, since I'm new to the forum. She currently in prison for not paying taxes for 4 years. Many congressman and Timothy Geitner get away with not paying taxes, but I suppose their special.

I know I was wrong to state the government "can" print all the money they want. I should have stated "they DO print all the money they want" and our income taxes go to offshore banks, as does some of our property taxes.

The printing of money, not backed by gold and silver IS the reason we have a horrible economy. The government has been writing bad checks to the U.S. Treasury since the existence of the private bank--the Federal Reserve. They're not done with taxing us yet. The global warming scam which has turned into Climate Control, is the very reason our government will add another tax and the people will swallow it hook, line and sinker because they've convinced most people the environment needs saving. The cap and trade (or carbon) taxes are on their way. We'll get taxed for what we consume and it will be taken from us...not just collected. There is no way anyone will convince me that withdrawing taxes from our pay is constitutional. Most taxes are burdens and that's not what our Founding Fathers intended.

If you don't believe any of this, that's fine. You probably also think the stimulus money went to bail out the banks too.

 
Got it. Your argument makes a lot more sense now
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I need to read more on the Federal Reserve (and how it's private), as well as the gold/silver standard, since I only have a basic knowledge of economics. I do know that some degree inflation is sometimes necessary, however, which is why I question whether the gold/silver standard is truly a good idea.

Quote:
You probably also think the stimulus money went to bail out the banks too. Don't worry, I know it was in many ways mismanaged and should have been handled much better.
 
Hi Stake!

Quote:
Don't worry, I know it was in many ways mismanaged and should have been handled much better. I apologize for the statement. The use of the "probably" made it an assumption and that's never good.
In many ways mismanaged? I believe it was robbery in every way because it wasn't really a bail out to help the economy.

Watch the new Jason Bermas movie "Invisible Empire" on YT. It's in 14 parts, but it's all there. It gives details, though I feel Jason narration is not that great sometimes. I really don't care to know what led him to do the research and movie.

I'd like to know what you think of it if you watch it.

If you would like to further the discussion off board, send a message to my Sassybanjo at gmail account. (sorry I'm not allowed to post it here since I'm new.)

 

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