What would happen if everyone in the U.S. stopped paying income tax?

What if every working person in the U.S. realized that income tax is unconstitutional, and according to the IRS it really is voluntary? Of course, this will never happen because people are used to paying income tax and won't stand up to the system. This is more of a hypothetical question.

What really would happen?

Re: What would happen if everyone in the U.S. stopped paying income tax?
Most people have income taxes withheld from their paychecks by their employer. Since corporations prefer to not get on the wrong side of the government, there would be little effect. In either case, Congress would simply make a change to the law to ensure more compliance and the income tax revenue would continue.

Re: What if every working person in the U.S. realized that income tax is unconstitutional...
It is not unconstitutional. In fact, an income tax levied on the wages a person earns has NEVER been ruled unconstitutional. Here is a civics and history lesson for you. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution states that "...Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes,...". That includes income taxes. There are only two limitations on the power to lay taxes. First, that duties, posts, and excises must be uniform (that means in a geographic sense). Second, that direct taxes must be apportioned. Direct taxes are only two, capitation or poll taxes and a tax on land.

In 1861, the first income tax was passed in the U.S. It continued until 1872, when Congress allowed the law to lapse. In 1880, the Supreme Court in Springer v. U.S., upheld the income tax against an individual ruling that it was a constitutional duty or excise.

In 1894, another income tax law was passed. In 1894 and 1895, the Supreme Court ruled that a tax levied on the income earned from personal property (i.e. rental income, dividends, etc) was the same as a tax on the property itself and was therefore a direct tax. However, the court also ruled that a tax on wages earned from employment was constitutional. The tax law at the time, because of the way it was written, had severability issues. That means that the tax that was levied on income from property could not be severed from the tax that was levied on income from all other sources, so the entire law was declared unconstitutional.

In 1909, Congress proposed the 16th amendment mainly because of complaints about tariffs and the fact that tariffs to fund the government were becoming unfeasible. In 1913, the 16th amendment was ratified by the states. Regardless of what some people claim, it was properly ratified. The 16th amendment simply removed the apportionment requirement for income taxes that were considered the same as a tax on the source.

In 1916, in Staton v. Baltic Mining Co. 240 U.S. 103 (1916), the Supreme Court states, "by the previous ruling it was settled that the provisions of the 16th Amendment conferred no new power of taxation, but simply PROHIBITED THE PREVIOUS COMPLETE AND PLENARY POWER OF INCOME TAXATION POSSESSED BY CONGRESS FROM THE BEGINNING FROM BEING TAKEN OUT OF THE CATEGORY OF INDIRECT TAXATION TO WHICH IT INHERENTLY BELONGED..."
http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/240/240.US.103.359.html

Re: according to the IRS it really is voluntary
Another misconception. The IRS and the government rely on the taxpayer making a voluntary assessment and trust the taxpayer to some extent to be honest. There are laws against cheating on your taxes, but the government rarely enforces them unless the amount is large. If a person is caught cheating, usually there will be some amount of civil proceedings. Here is what the courts have said on the matter.
In Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391, 399 (1938), the court states, "In assessing income taxes, the Government relies primarily upon the disclosure by the taxpayer of the relevant facts. This disclosure it requires him to make in his annual return. To ensure full and honest disclosure, to discourage fraudulent attempts to evade the tax, Congress imposes sanctions. Such sanctions may confessedly be either criminal or civil."
http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/303/303.US.391.324.html
In United States v. Gerads, 999 F.2d 1255 (8th Cir. 1993), cert. den. 510 U.S. 1193 (1994), the court stated, "Appellantsâ€™ claim that payment of federal income tax is voluntary clearly lacks substance."
http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/999/999.F2d.1255.93-1449.html
There are several other cases showing that income taxes are not voluntary.

The economy would fall apart. No new roads, people would starve becasue they lost there welfare assistance, Crime would skyrocket becasue there would be no police force,All military retire's would lose there retirement pay. We would lose all milutary defense and be attacked and overtaken,,,,etc.......

There'd be an awful lot of unemployed soldiers, for one thing.

(Oh, and that "unconstitutional" and "not really a law" thing is a big bunch of bullhooey.)

the funding to schools would be cut, roads wouldn't be repaired or created, people who hold offices wouldn't get paid, the subsidies that the government gives to oil companies would disappear (meaning that we would pay just as much as european countries pay for oil... thats closer to 11 dollars a gallon... because they pay like 5 or more for a liter...) Prisons would shut down.. I'm pretty sure our economy would fail.
Should you be voting, or endorsing, a candidate when you have to ask questions like that about the economy?

There would be no money for any type of public funds that are in use for infrastructure, government paychecks, schools, etc. etc. etc. Basically the country would implode.

yeah.....that is way hypothetical.

but all the government would do is raise other "constitutional" taxes.

sales tax would be 50%

property tax would be 10%

they could invent other taxes, like a tax on having more than one child...

thats all that would happen.

Irs will be like those horrible agencies...what is called.....collection .....and then they will send the cops to your home

Â· THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW UNTIL I SAW THEM ON THE INTERNET:

Nobody ever really landed on the moon - it was a giant hoax. What you saw on TV was filmed in Utah.

Elvis is still alive, and performing marriage ceremonies in Las Vegas.

It is unconstitutional for the government to tax your wages (income tax), the 16th amendment was never ratified, and most of what we think of as income isn't really income anyway. And the system is voluntary.

Excuse me now....I just won 2 million pounds in the online UK lottery when my email was randomly selected, and I have to go answer the email.....

;-}

If enough people cared about it enough to call their representatives then i think progress could be made.

The 16th Amendment to the Constitution:

"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."

What was that you were saying about unconstitutional?

Once the IRS realizes that almost every employee stopped paying taxes, they will mandate that everyone will have taxes withheld using the W-4 filing of Single and 0 allowances which will force employers to withhold the most amount of tax from everyone's paycheck.

they would go to jail and the government would be even more suckyyy.

so lets pay our taxes people:]

most of government in most countries are shit: universal truth. the best government is almost no government, as little as possible, and i'm not referring to the republic nor democratic party version, either.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment:

Archive: Forum -Forum -Finance - Links - 1 - 2 - RSS - All RSS Feeds
The Causes and the Results. 0.034
Copyright (c) 2011 Financial Crisis Tuesday, May 29, 2012 - Terms of use - Privacy Policy