Whack-a-Doos On the Bus
I had an interesting experience yesterday on the bus. I was just riding along minding my own business, reading my Tax assignment and having as much fun as you can expect to have reading about business deductions,1 when this guy interrupts me:
Guy On Bus "Excuse me, do you go to The U"2
Me [rolling my eyes, hopefully so Guy On Bus doesn't see] "Um... yeah"
G.O.B. "That's a very intersting subject... Taxation of Individual Income"
Me [Thinking "Tax is certainly *not* a 'very interesting subject'"] "Um... Yeah... It's the best."
G.O.B. "You know there's a very interesting movie that proves that there is no legal basis for the government collecting personal income tax... it's just for corporations."
Me [WTF!] "Really? That's very interesting." [Please be the end of the conversation. Please be the end of the conversation. Please be the end of the conversation.]
G.O.B. "Yes" [FUCK! He's still talking] "this movie is really going to make things interesting"
Me "I'll bet" [I wonder if I shut my eyes, if he'll leave me alone]
I won't bore you with the rest of the conversation, because it went on for too long, and didn't really vary from this theme. Anyway, I decided to do a little research on this movie the guy raving about. It is the movie America: Freedom to Fascism and it is made by the guy who produced Trading Places (which gives him automatic street cred in my book). If you look at the Freedom to Fascism website, it almost looks legit. Almost... But then I found this NY Times Review of the movie
Here are the funniest things that I learned about this "movie" from reading the NY Times article and a few other internet websites:
The director claims that the IRS refuses to point to "the law" that says that we have to pay individual income tax, and moreover that they can't because it "doesn't exist"
- For a debunking of this BS, go here to see that there clearly are laws which authorize personal income tax
Title 26 of the United States Code that the IRS points to is not a law, but a regulation... and "to be a law it has to be passed by Congress." "Mr. Russo added that he had studied the matter closely and was confident that he had the facts."
- This is wrong for so many reasons. First, if it is Title 26 of the United States Code it *is* the law as passed by Congress.
- Second, Even if the director mistook Title 26 of the U.S. Code for Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the CFR is still legally binding rules which we would have to follow if they are legitimately promulgated.
- Maybe you should have had your lawyer check the facts before you spout off... huh, maybe?
"Not mentioned in the film is that Mr. Russo has more than $2 million of tax liens filed against him by the Internal Revenue Service, California and New York for unpaid federal and state taxes. Mr. Russo declined to discuss the liens, saying they were not relevant to his film."
- Really, you don't think it's relevant that a filmmaker who is making a documentary about the IRS has been accused of owing $2 million in back taxes by the IRS? Not even a little relevant?
And my favorite, the "film's" website says "America: Freedom to Fascism Opened to Standing Ovations at Cannes!"
- But, according to the NY Times article "The film was not on the program at Cannes .... Mr. Russo, the film’s director, writer and producer, just set up an inflatable screen on a beach."
- What?! He just set up a screen on the beach and said it "opened at Cannes!" Wow that's ballsy. Stupid... but ballsy.
1Which is of course boatloads of fun ... the entire veritable barrel of freakin' moneys!
2For those of you living outside of Minnesota, "The U" is local slang for "The University of Minnesota"
posted by Unreasonable Man @ 4:18 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Have you read title 26 of the US code, smart guy? Point out where it says I am required to pay taxes? I have read the sub chapters and sections that pertain to the individual income tax, and nowhere does it say I am required to pay taxes. I notice a lot of people spout off about title 26 but none of them have even read it.
Um... yes I have read it... I took a class on the tax code. Are you sure you read it, Mr. Anonymous?
Now to your ignorance.
26 U.S.C. § 1(a) "There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every married individual . . . a tax determined in accordance with the following table..."
§ 1(b) "There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every head of a household (as defined in section 2 (b)) a tax determined in accordance with the following table"
§ 1(c) "There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every individual . . . who is not a married individual (as defined in section 7703) a tax determined in accordance with the following table
§ 1(d) "There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every married individual (as defined in section 7703) who does not make a single return jointly with his spouse under section 6013, a tax determined in accordance with the following table
"Hereby imposed a tax" means you have to pay taxes. How did I ever think to look in the first section of the tax code?
Maybe you should read the deffinitions of taxable "person" residing in the "States" or "Untied States".
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