geopi@hogpc.UUCP (11/12/83)
Yes, I had once read some tax opinion by a man named Schiff, from Connecticut, I think, who wrote a book about the alleged illegality of this whole taxation system we are bound to. Bound unfairly, some think. Anyhow, he made strong claims that wages in fact were an equal exchange of the employee's labor (in whatever capacity), for dollars (whatever they are), or Federal Reserve Notes (unbacked by gold these days), or greenbacks, or something in which the employee presumably has some confidence (cough, cough). The main point is that the wage situation is an exchange, and, properly speaking, cannot be considered "income," in the sense that it was defined in 1913 when the income tax law was written. Income was meant to reflect capital gains. It was also promised at the time of the writing of the law, that only the rich would pay, and the income tax rate would never amount to more than 1% or 2%. And other such lies. I do not know how these arguments stand up legally, but I do seem to remember that Mr. Schiff, after a number of years as a very vocal tax rebeller, was brought to justice, if I may use the phrase loosely, and squeezed like the rest of us by the infernal revenue service.
eder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder) (11/13/83)
In the interest of fostering intelligent discussion on the subject,
I would like to post Supreme Court decisions relating to the 16th
Amendment and wages. This may not be all inclusive, nor be free of
typographical errors. My sources are "United States Code Annotated",
"American Jurisprudence". For those of you unfamiliar with legal
citations, the form [ x S Ct y] means the decision of the Supreme
Court on page y of volume x of the bound set of decisions issued by
the Court.
The number of citations I have collected is large, and may be
inappropriate for the net, so send me comments on whether you want it.
When I have it all typed in I'll post a note about the size of the file.
Dani Eder