Can a President Eliminate the Income Tax?
Maybe. First Trump (who is the only one who has suggested it) has to UNDERSTAND Article 1, Section 8.
Today on X, I came across this question asked by Alec Zeck, a smart, credible guy I follow on X and via his podcast. He spoke on virology at the Wise Traditions conference in 2023.
Maybe... First he has to UNDERSTAND Article 1, Section 8.
At 74,000 pages, income tax regulations are incredibly complex and require diving into tangent after tangent to fully comprehend. This post is a stab at making sense of the monster. Please ask questions to help us clarify!
First things first
The federal income tax is constitutional as written in Article 1, Section 8. It is, however, being fraudulently APPLIED. Here’s what I mean by that.
What is being taxed?
It’s actually the ACTIVITY that is subject to being taxed, not the amount. The amount is used as the indicator of how much of the taxable activity took place.
Direct or Indirect?
An income tax can be applied as an indirect tax or a direct tax. These are two very different and distinct applications. The recent Moore decision affirms that the income tax as written is an indirect tax. It can only be applied as a direct tax in a very narrowly defined situation (described below).
What is an indirect tax?
An indirect tax applies to only a certain sector of Americans who enjoy a federal privilege, like a gun shop owner who can only operate with a federally issued license or a federal employee who is paid from tax dollars, like a Congressman or the woman who cleans the congressional bathrooms. (That’s why it’s called a tax RETURN, get it?) It does NOT apply to everyone. It applies only to those who enjoy a federal privilege.
The 16th Amendment
Contrary to popular opinion, the 16A CLARIFIED this but did NOT give Congress new taxing powers. Read the Brushaber decision, atrociously written so brace yourself. There’s a section that outlines what the decision does NOT allow and this is the section that is often quoted as saying what it DOES allow. 🤦♀️
So how is Article 1, Section 8 fraudulently APPLIED? It is currently applied as though it were a head tax or a direct tax on every American. Directly taxing every American can only be done under the following circumstances:
What is a direct tax?
The only time an income tax can be taken from everyone is as a direct tax which means that:
the AMOUNT to be collected is specified to the penny, and
it’s for a specific PURPOSE (so a singular event, not on-going), then
that amount is divvied up between the states according to population (aka “APPORTIONED”). So Rhode Island is responsible for way less than Texas. Then,
the states collect the money and send to the feds, the feds do not collect it.
Today’s federal income tax is collected from everyone as thought it were an ongoing direct tax… Does anyone think that is in keeping with what the framers intended, that we would all be taxed on the fruits of our labors??? That is the very definition of slavery.
On exempting certain careers
Trump has also said he’d like to exempt certain career paths like firemen, LEOs, etc. Here’s the dilemma:
If they are federal employees, they are constitutionally subject to the income tax so eliminating that would take a constitutional amendment.
If they are state employees, he can’t legally write an EO to exempt state employees, he has no jurisdiction in a state.
Perhaps he can abolish the IRS which would be a start. 🤷♀️ Normally, Congress makes/breaks government agencies. However, Congress can allow the President the authority to "reorganize".
Then Elon, who will head up the D.O.G.E. (Department of Government Efficiency), can make sure federal INDIRECT income taxes are only collected on federally privileged occupations, including all those federal employees working for all those alphabet agencies.
Can you imagine if only federal employees were subject to an income tax? Huge reminder of who they work for!!! How many fed employees would quit? Sure they’d pay the same amount regardless of whether or not we all paid, but if they could get a job in the private sector and NOT sacrifice part of their income to the feds, pretty sure they’d at least consider a different line of work.
I hope this makes sense. In the meantime, maybe Trump could EO-outlaw lobbying. 👏🏻