Help with College Essay? Taxes!

damnimcooltom said
US Constitution, Article I, section 8, clause 1

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.

Amendment XVI
(Ratified February 3, 1913)

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.

Current income taxes are imposed under these constitutional provisions and various sections of Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, including 26 U.S.C. § 1 (imposing income tax on the taxable income of individuals, estates and trusts) and 26 U.S.C. § 11 (imposing income tax on the taxable income of corporations).

Have you ever looked into title 26, the tax code? If you look at the definitions, "income" is defined as "as stated in the Income Tax act of 1913" (not sure of the exact wording but that is the point) but the actual definition is not given. If you look up the Income Tax act of 1913 you find income defined as "Any gain or profit from corporate activity". Do you have any such income? Wages from a job are not "income" by their own definition. But just try to fight that in THEIR courts. You may win, some people have, but most do not. Another word game is played to make employers think they are required to withhold taxes from your pay. The law states that employers shall withhold...but if you go to the definitions for this section you find that "for the purposes of this section, the word "shall" is to be interpreted as having the same meaning as the word "may". Kind of changes the meaning a little doesn't it? That is why your W4 is titled Withholding ALLOWANCE Certificate. You are ALLOWING them to withhold from your pay.