Are You Required to Pay Federal Income Tax by Law?

Every year on April 15, like millions of other American citizens, I file a 1040 form and pay federal income tax to the IRS. Needless to say, it is the one day of the year I hate probably more than any other. However, like most other Americans, I never questioned it. I just assumed that I have to pay a federal income tax every year or the IRS will audit me and I'll be sent to prison because it's the law.

What most people don't know, and I only recently found out, is that only part of that assumption is true. Yes, if you don't pay your federal income taxes, the IRS will come after you at some point, and you'll probably end up in prison. However, it is not the law. In fact, there is no law that requires anyone to pay federal income tax.

If you don't believe me, simply call up the IRS and ask them, "Can you show me the law that requires me to pay federal income tax?" I promise you, you will get anything but a straight answer. Now, you would think the IRS would be happy to show you the law that requires you to pay federal income tax. After all, it's just a document. You should be able to view it on their website if you want to. Yet, every time someone asks this question, they're met with doubletalk, rhetoric, and every other sort of evasive tactic that can be implemented when you ask someone a straightforward question they do not want to answer.

If you do muster up the gall to ask the IRS where the law in question is, they might direct you to Title 26. The IRS, as well as many tax experts, often cite Title 26 of the United States Code as the "law" that requires everyone to pay income tax. However, Title 26 clearly states that filing a 1040 is "voluntary compliance." The instructions included in the 1040 tax form also state that filing the form, and hence paying an income tax, is voluntary. Further more, the word "income" is not clearly defined in the IRS code.

Every time an income tax case has made it to the Supreme Court, the court has overruled it based on the fact that the IRS cannot legally force anyone to pay income tax. Every time an IRS agent has pointed out the fact that there is no income tax law, they have swiftly lost their job. When congressman Ron Paul was asked if we are required by law to pay an income tax, this is what he had to say: "Not explicitly, but it is implied… I can't cite a law."

Now, I'm not suggesting that you don't pay your income tax this year. First of all, every state has different income tax rules, and if your state requires you to pay income tax, they probably have a state law to enforce it. Second of all, in most cases of people not paying their federal income taxes, they are tried in a lower-level court and it is not uncommon for lower-level judges to dismiss Supreme Court rulings as evidence (I know, absurd, but true).

The bottom line is this: If there really is a law that requires us to pay income tax, what's the big deal? Why doesn't the IRS just show us the law?