Synaptic Sparks

No New Powers Of Taxation

I'm applying the KISS principle in this narrative paragraph. In 1894 Congress imposed a tax on rental income from real estate. In the Pollock Case, the Supreme Court did an exhaustive analysis to determine what a direct tax was, determined that a tax on the rental income is the same as a tax on the rental property (the source the rental income was derived from),  and then ruled that a tax on rental income was a direct tax. The court also basically said, If you don't like the decision, amend the Constitution. It was.

U.S. Constitution, Sixteenth Amendment


There are some, including ignorant lawyers, who "believe" that the Sixteenth Amendment gave Congress the power to levy a direct tax that wasn't subject to the rule of apportionment.

This is understandable for the average person in light of the wording of the Sixteenth Amendment and the failure of American school systems to properly educate Americans. This is unconscionable for lawyers who are trained in law. Doubly so for judges (lawyers wearing black dresses.)



The supporting words of the previous ruling:



The Sixteenth Amendment acts upon the Supreme Court.

[T]he command of the Amendment that all income taxes shall not be subject to apportionment by a consideration of the sources from which the taxed income may be derived forbids the application to such taxes of the rule applied in the Pollock Case...


The sixteenth amendment authorizes the taxation of income "from whatever source derived" -- thus taking in investment income --"without apportionment among the several States."  The Supreme Court has held that the sixteenth amendment did not extend the taxing power of the United States to new or excepted subjects but merely removed the necessity which might otherwise exist for an apportionment among the States of taxes laid on income whether it be derived from one source or another.

Page 2580 House Congressional Record March 27, 1943
Mark, of course, in saying this we are not here considering a tax not within the provisions of the 16th Amendment, that is, one in which the regulation of apportionment or the rule of uniformity is wholly negligible because the tax is one entirely beyond the scope of the taxing power of Congress, and where consequently no authority to impose a burden, either direct or indirect, exists.


Constitutional Income will be explained on the next page.