During a private meeting with Republican lawmakers at the Capitol Hill Club last week, former President Donald J. Trump proposed an “all tariff policy” as a solution to eliminate the U.S. income tax. This is a fantastic idea! If implemented properly, the United States would attract businesses from across the globe to incorporate here, reaching near full employment with workers enjoying much higher wages. This action alone would dramatically reduce the Deep States influence and re-establish the American Dream that has all but disappeared in less than four years under the Biden/Harris Administration.
According to Charles Adams, the real cause of the American Revolution can be traced back to the reasons immigrants came to America—they sought freedom from taxation as expressed by one Irishman writing back home to Ulster in 1720:
“Tell all the poor folk of ye place that God has opened a door for their deliverance . . . all that a man works for is his own, and there are no revenue hounds [i.e. no IRS] to take it from us here; there is no one to take away yer Corn, yer Potatoes.”
In addition to understanding that many immigrants fled Europe because of oppressive taxation, along with the fact that they were also tax evaders and rebels themselves, our Founders read baron de Montesquieu’s book, The Spirit of Laws, published in English in 1751. The basic principles of taxation described in The Spirit of Laws were: (1) Direct taxes were taxes on the wages of labor, which were dangerous and natural to slavery; and (2) indirect taxes or taxes on the sale of merchandise were more natural to liberty.
Because of this belief that an income tax on a person’s labor was tantamount to slavery, there was no income tax for the first 50 years of our existence while our Founders were still alive, ending with the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4, 1826. In 1894 Congress passed the first peacetime income tax that exempted 98% of the population; the tax rate was 2% on about 2% of the population. The Supreme Court got immediately involved, ruling the income tax unconstitutional. Not at all like the Supreme Court of today, who would rather look for excuses to avoid the issue at hand, e.g., lack of standing.
Accordingly, there was no peacetime income tax for the first 137 years of our existence. However, after the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 and as the nineteenth century came to a close, “the Court began abandoning its role as guardian of the Constitution so far as federal tax laws were concerned. As tax laws became increasingly abusive and even discriminatory, lacking even a semblance of uniformity, the Court washed its hands of them.”
Because of the income tax laws, especially the administration and enforcement of them, individual freedom has been negatively impacted, while the Courts have either silently stood by or purposely let it happen.
Congress, the IRS, and the Judiciary, with the assistance of certain academic enablers, have perpetrated a fraud on the American people. Four Supreme Court cases that were decided between 1886 and 1916 have been either (1) ignored, (2) misquoted, (3) misinterpreted, or (4) criticized without any rational basis that comports with the true meaning of the U.S. Constitution.
Many so-called Constitutional Scholars would like us to believe that the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment, allowing Congress the “. . . power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived. . .,” ended all legitimate challenges that the income tax is unconstitutional. I beg-to-differ and my LL.M. thesis, summa cum laude, supports the following conclusions:
1) The U.S. individual income tax does not apply to most U.S. citizens or residents whose only income is from self-employment or salaries and wages. This is because a tax on the wages of labor represents a direct tax on property and a capitation tax; and such taxes must be apportioned in accordance with the census. Since there is no apportionment requirement under existing law, this income is not gross income subject to tax for most U.S. citizens or residents.
2) The income tax on corporations may be an excise tax for the privilege of doing business in corporate form and therefore, is not subject to apportionment. Accordingly, any net income from a regular corporation may be taxable under existing tax laws. But issues still exist regarding the computation of taxable income. The term taxes on incomes included in the Sixteenth Amendment has a specific meaning not subject to change without amendment. However, both Congress and the IRS continue to ignore the Constitution, continually changing the definition of what is and is not income for tax purposes.
3) Under the original Constitution, which still exists today, but has been ignored, capitation and other direct taxes include a tax upon property holders in respect of their estates, whether real or personal, or of the income yielded by such estates. Since such taxes are not currently required to be apportioned, most U.S. citizens and residents may not have any taxable income, except possibly, from the pass-through of any remaining “S” corporation earnings that have not been treated as salaries and wages. Despite what you read or have heard, this is still the law, even though it has been ignored, misinterpreted, and intentionally forgotten.
4) Although Congress has the right to tax incomes, it must comply with all limitations set forth in the Constitution—they have not! The term taxes on incomes included in the Sixteenth Amendment has a specific meaning, i.e. the meaning it had at the time of proposal and ratification. Therefore, Congress and the IRS have no right to continually change and redefine a Constitutional provision—without Amendment—which they have been doing for years!
5) In accordance with a Supreme Court decision in 1886,—which has been ignored—the U.S. individual income tax should be struck-down as unconstitutional since the law, as administered today, violates our rights under the Fourth Amendment (the right to be secure in our papers and effects) and under the Fifth Amendment (the right not to be compelled to be a witness against ourselves).
6) By filing a Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, we unknowingly waive our rights and privileges under the Fifth Amendment and all the information provided in our tax returns can be used against us in a criminal proceeding. Since the civil and criminal penalties are unconscionable, a Miranda warning—required for all other criminal offenses—ought to be included with all instructions and requests for information by the IRS. In addition, Attorneys, CPAs and other Tax Practitioners may be subject to malpractice claims if they do not advise their clients that they are waiving their constitutional rights by providing information to the IRS when audited; and by signing tax returns under penalties of perjury.
Former President Donald J. Trump not only has a strong economic reason to eliminate the income tax to Make America Prosperous Again and Make America Great Again, he NOW has a legal argument since The U.S. Individual Income Tax is Incompatible with a Free Society, THE U.S. INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH A FREE SOCIETY - Kindle edition by Beard Jr., Robert G.. Professional & Technical Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. Help us get the word out. Forward this blog to family, friends, neighbors, and associates… Today!
It will not be enough to replace the income tax with tariffs and consumption taxes—this would be temporary, and the income tax would likely be reinstated with a new administration. We must repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. Go to our website and sign our petition to Abolish the IRS, Abolish IRS — Jeffersonian Group | Financial Planning & independence. Our petition explains what needs to be done to make the elimination of the income tax permanent.
And do not get dragged into the belief that big corporations are not paying their fair share of taxes. If you are not sure what I am talking about, go to our April 18, 2024 blog, The Corporate Income Tax – Another Fraud, The Corporate Income Tax – Another Fraud — Jeffersonian Group | Financial Planning & independence.
President Trump is on the right track! If you want your taxes lowered—including the insidious inflationary tax—vote for Trump and ALL Republicans on November 5, 2024. We must Make America Great Again and restore the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.
Dum Spiro Spero—While I breathe, I hope.
Slàinte mhath,
Robert (Mike) G. Beard Jr., C.P.A., C.G.M.A., J.D., LL.M.