Income tax: IF Congress and the courts cannot get it right, why should we be expected to?

By Leaderless America

Assuming there would have been several representatives & C-Span coverage, that would have been a golden opportunity to expose one of the biggest problems of all - the fact that in many cases there is no definitive answer & the laws are supposed to be written so the average person with a decent education can understand them. Some of the U.S. Courts of Appeals have held that the income tax is a direct tax, others have held that it's an indirect tax, the 2nd Circuit has ruled both ways & here's what a federal judge in the eastern district court in Tennessee had to say during the conference where both sides & the judge discuss jury instructions:

THE COURT: He has been allowed to testify at length regarding his theory about excise taxes and so forth. But I am not going to tell this jury one way or the other whether or not the income tax is an excise tax. Frankly, I don't know. I haven't reached that point myself.

OK, so if a federal district judge doesn't know, the 4th Circuit says one thing, the 9th Circuit says another, the 2nd Circuit's gone both ways, how on earth can the average taxpayer know? Mr. Congressman, can you tell us which it is? How about you, Mr. Senator? People are being prosecuted for violating a "known legal duty", but the "duty" can't possibly be known if the public doesn't even know what kind of tax they're supposed to pay! Or if it even applies to their situation in the 1st place! FULL STORY