thinking out loud . . .

A Facebook friend challenged me to prove that the American income tax system is not completely voluntary and that people are actually required to pay taxes.

He writes:

There is no law stating that a person must pay federal income taxes and this has been proven. It’s voluntary, not mandatory. Ask any “tax expert” to show you WHERE in the IRS Tax Code you must pay taxes, and the answer is that there isn’t any code. People are paying their taxes because they don’t want IRS Agents, SWAT, etc. knocking down their door in the middle of the night.

One can however make $12,000 USD, do their taxes, and get the money back as an alternative to letting the IRS knock your door down for “tax evasion”.

What is the truth?

What say we take a look-see into the United States Code?

The Internal Revenue Code is found under Title 26.

Income taxes are covered under Subtitle A.

The information we want is found under Chapter 1, Normal Taxes and Surtaxes.

We begin with Chapter 1, Subchapter A, Part I, Section 1, Tax Imposed:

(a) Married individuals filing joint returns and surviving spouses    

There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of—

(1) every married individual (as defined in section 7703) who makes a single return jointly with his spouse under section 6013, and

(2) every surviving spouse (as defined in section 2 (a)),    

a tax determined in accordance with the following table:

If taxable income is:	The tax is:
Not over $36,900	15% of taxable income.
Over $36,900 but not over $89,150	$5,535, plus 28% of the excess over $36,900.
Over $89,150 but not over $140,000	$20,165, plus 31% of the excess over $89,150.
Over $140,000 but not over $250,000	$35,928.50, plus 36% of the excess over $140,000.
Over $250,000	$75,528.50, plus 39.6% of the excess over $250,000.

 

If we continue reading, we find the same requirements and tabular information for

(b) Heads of households

(c) Unmarried individuals 

(d) Estates and trusts

And so on, all of which makes it clear that most folks are required to pay taxes…

Let’s take a little peek into Section 7203. Willful failure to file return, supply information, or pay tax:

Any person required under this title to pay any estimated tax or tax, or required by this title or by regulations made under authority thereof to make a return, keep any records, or supply any information, who willfully fails to pay such estimated tax or tax, make such return, keep such records, or supply such information, at the time or times required by law or regulations, shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $25,000 ($100,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, together with the costs of prosecution. In the case of any person with respect to whom there is a failure to pay any estimated tax, this section shall not apply to such person with respect to such failure if there is no addition to tax under section 6654 or 6655 with respect to such failure. In the case of a willful violation of any provision of section 6050I, the first sentence of this section shall be applied by substituting “felony” for “misdemeanor” and “5 years” for “1 year”.

Then there’sSection 7201. Attempt to evade or defeat tax

My friend, I just showed you “WHERE in the IRS Tax Code you must pay taxes.” 

Can we put an end to this Nobody Has to Pay Taxes scam?

Please?

How does this stuff get started and why does anyone ever believe it?