Tax Laws (myth-or not)

[jer-z jock]

Having a discussion with an elder fella and he stated to me that way back when even before he, taxes--I think it was Federal taxes--were voluntary, and taxes became law, but that always wasnt the case. If correct he says, in time of war people would have no problem gifting monies and things to the government as it was to help the country in a time of need, but it was solely a decision that the person or family made. Only after seeing and realizing that this was a good source of revenue did it get written in as law, now the kicker is he says there is a way or "trick" to not paying this tax currently today (again Federal or State Im not positive but I believe he said Federal) so I'll ask the people of MJs, is this guy full of shit about the whole shabang, and I almost sure you are obligated by law to pay your taxes both federal and state--but Im no lawyer or accountant so I could be wrong.

 

[ryson]

http://civilwarstudies.org/articles/Vol_4/incometax.htm

http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt16toc_user.html


AS AMERICAN AS ? INCOME TAX
The Smithsonian Associates Civil War E-Mail Newsletter, Volume 4, Number 4


In addition to an income tax to support the Civil War, the wartime Congress passed dozens of tariffs and excise taxes on a variety of goods and services. You may have noticed the postage-type stamps on the backs of cartes de visites, for example. These revenue stamps were placed on an item to verify that the required taxes had been collected and paid by the customer. While the income tax was eliminated after the war, these ?nuisance? taxes were not, surviving long after the Civil War was over. It was another war, World War I, which prompted the overhaul of Mr. Lincoln?s tax system.

The Sixteenth Amendment was ratified in February of 1913. At just 30 words, it is the briefest Constitutional Amendment with the exception of the Bill of Rights. It states ?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.?

Eight months after it was ratified, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Underwood-Simmons tariff bill, enacting the first of many income tax laws to follow. The bill eliminated many of the ?nuisance? taxes from the Civil War era, and even reduced the original income tax rate. The new income tax, with a rate of one percent on incomes between $3,000 and $20,000, less deductions and exemptions, and graduated surtaxes up to six percent on higher incomes, applied to barely one percent of the population.

On January 5, 1914, the Department of the Treasury unveiled the new Form 1040 to the awaiting public. People who could were anxious to file, to show both their patriotism and that they were among the elite who earned enough to qualify to pay income taxes. The deadline for filing the form with the local tax collector?s office was less than two months away, March 1, 1914. With just over 350,000 1040s filed in the first year, the Bureau of Internal Revenue audited 100 percent of the returns.

In case you wanted to know, last year?s statistics show:

113.7 Million individual income tax returns were filed;

there were 2.5 Billion hits on the IRS.GOV web page;

the U.S. Treasury collected $1.86 Trillion.

 

[Terryray]

the Federal goverment largely existed on tariffs until WWI. They did raise money with lotteries in Revolutionary War (and printed worthless money) and did enact the first income taxes in Civil war (and printed worthless money again to try and pay stuff)

Income taxes could only be levied on wages, not other assets, due to the Constitution's "apportionment requirement".

Thus, they passed the 16 Amendment in 1913 to get around this and establish permanent federal income taxes as we know it today.

the top tax rate rose to 77% at end of WWI to finance that, and the top marginal tax rate (now 35%, which is higher than most European countries) rose to 94% by end of WWII (and instead of printing worthless money, they tried to sell bonds to help war effort--and that failed to work also)

some nuts and wackos ("tax protestors") do argue you don't have to pay Federal Income tax due to irregularities in the passage of the 16 Amendment (or definitions of "income" wrong, or IRS statues not clear and/or violate 4th amendment), but these losers don't get very far in courts and get put in jail on regular basis if they get too out of hand.

That's Federal income tax story. But almost 50% of American taxpayers don't pay this, their effective Federal tax rate is still high--due to payroll taxes involving Social Security and Medicare witholding.....also there are Federal Estate taxes, taxes on gas, cigarettes, telephone use, and other small stuff (including booze, which ain't s mall).

States could always impose any tax they wanted, as long as it didn't get in the way of the Federal tax powers. Each state has its own tax way and tax history.

 

[The Sponge]

Having a discussion with an elder fella and he stated to me that way back when even before he, taxes--I think it was Federal taxes--were voluntary, and taxes became law, but that always wasnt the case. If correct he says, in time of war people would have no problem gifting monies and things to the government as it was to help the country in a time of need, but it was solely a decision that the person or family made. Only after seeing and realizing that this was a good source of revenue did it get written in as law, now the kicker is he says there is a way or "trick" to not paying this tax currently today (again Federal or State Im not positive but I believe he said Federal) so I'll ask the people of MJs, is this guy full of shit about the whole shabang, and I almost sure you are obligated by law to pay your taxes both federal and state--but Im no lawyer or accountant so I could be wrong.

i think this is true Jer but then the GOP the greedy ole party wouldn't fork over a penny so the govt had to create some laws to force these greedy pigs not to be the richest guys in the cemetery. Don't quote me on this tho.