I hear this almost every day during tax season:
There can be no law that allows income tax under the US Constitution.
That is completely untrue. There is NO argument that has been successfully used to prove that US citizens don’t have to pay taxes. If I moved to Canada, I’d still have to pay US taxes on my income earned in Canada. There are plenty of people who say that they don’t have to pay taxes, and many back it up with official-sounding, legit-sounding, well-thought-out reasons why. But at the end of the day, no one has successfully defended themselves in court using these reasons. If anyone had, it would be front-page news and no one (!) in the US would bother paying taxes anymore because they could copy-paste the original reasoning and get away with it.
Plus the 16th amendment covers it pretty well. “But there couldn’t be any new powers of taxation!” So what? They already had the power to tax income so they don’t need a new tax power, they just need the one they already had.
I’ve met lots and lots of tax protestors, and I agreed with some of their reasons why they choose not to pay taxes (or allied with those who do). A lot of them say “Oh, Griffin, if only someone could tell me a law that makes taxes mandatory.” But if I rattle off a few things that do, all I hear is “But I don’t agree with Law X,” or “that amendment is BS,” or “my taxes aren’t used for what I want them to be used for!” It really doesn’t matter.
Law is law is law whether the people like it or not.
If you don’t believe me, why don’t you ask The IRS, GWU Law School, or maybe Wesley Snipes. Now, I like Wesley Snipes a lot. He’s a nice guy and to an extent he went to prison because he had been told that he didn’t have to pay taxes. But it just goes to show the dangers inherent in following legal advice that you find online. Always, always, always double and triple-check your sources before anything that might be unsafe. For him it could have been much, much worse. Had he not convinced a jury that he
And yes, in the US even many prostitutes file for income taxes. With stuff like prostitution or PPI or internet marketing it all becomes a game of “prove I did something wrong.” This is partly why so many women are open about being or having been prostitutes. After all, they paid their taxes. Unless you have someone to back up (with substantial proof) that you did something illegal the police have nothing.
If you have serious concerns about reporting illegal income on taxes, I would consult an attorney (takes about an hour or less of their billable time).
