Each year, millions of Americans report their earnings - wages, salaries, compensation - to the IRS, thereby allowing a significant portion of their wealth to be claimed by the corporate government. Yet the law itself stipulates that tax is only to be paid on a certain kind of income - a truth about which most Americans remain blissfully unaware. Here are some facts:
The income tax applies to income not earnings. You, as an individual, do not earn income. Only corporations and companies earn income.
The income tax is an excise tax, not a direct tax. It applies only to revenue in which the federal government has a direct ownership interest.
What is called 'income' by the IRS is not 'money' or 'receipts' or 'earnings.' It is defined, in the IRC code, as receipts resulting from the exercise of federal privilege. In other words, if you are conducting business with, or directly paid by, the federal government, then, and only then, do you owe taxes.
The income tax was instituted in 1862 (but the people revolted). The 16th Amendment (1913) did not expand the scope or definition of taxable 'income.' Until the 1940s, only about 4% of Americans (those who worked for or were involved with the federal government) pain an annual income tax. The aforementioned group who worked for/with the federal government were the only employees required to pay a federal tax.
During WWII, the government called for Americans to pay income tax as support for the war effort. Patriotically, a large number of citizens complied. But, it was not mandatory.
The Internal Revenue Code grew to more than 3 million words. A wage-withholding program was instituted and thousands of professionals now help Americans prepare their non-mandatory, voluntary tax returns.
Each year, millions of Americans report their earnings to a private, non-auditable, for-profit corporation called the IRS which requires only federal government employees to report their income. But, via submission of W-2 and 1099 forms by our employers, after the employee has provided the employer authorization to file with the IRS via the W-4 and W-9 forms, we legally contract, without rebuttal, to have deductions from our pay. This was our first big, dumb mistake.
Not filing a 1040 form waives your 'right' to properly report your 'income.'
While Congress is not authorized to take your money directly, it has figured out a clever way to create a tax code that is so convoluted that, upon reading it as a novice, you will walk away convinced that you owe taxes. The words 'income,' 'wages,' 'employee,' 'employer, and 'trade or business' are all specifically defined in the Code, but most of us interpret these words as we do in common everyday language. But, they are not common, every-day language and terms!
When we file a 1040 form, it is a legal document that you, as an employee, willingly agree to report to the IRS to confirm that you, in fact, owe the IRS money. This is our second big, dumb mistake.
The IRS accepts your money and deposits all monies into one of three US Treasury accounts which are labeled gift and donation accounts. Yes, the IRS and Treasury views your tax dollars as gifts and donations.
Isn't it fun to know this?!