Little Know Fact

Something very few people realize, the 16th amendment to the constitution created two tax systems, one for individuals and and one for businesses. And there’s a world of difference between them.

After proposing the new amendment, Congress began to worry that the amendment wouldn’t be ratified by the states. The issue was the way it was worded.

“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

The specific language causing the concern was, “collect taxes on incomes from whatever source derived.” The concern was, the way it was written included money borrowed & the proceeds when selling at at loss in income subject to taxation.  Obviously, Congress had a good reason to be worried. So at the last moment, Congress took out ads in newspapers all over the country promising to ‘tax only profits’.

That relieved an uneasy electorate and the amendment passed unanimously among all the states that voted. Voters weren’t opposed to income tax, they were opposed to an unreasonable tax.

The 16th amendment was subsequently ratified by the Supreme Court in ‘Glenshaw Glass’ and added to the tax code in section 162 of the 1954 tax code. In their deliberations, both the Supreme Court & Congress considered those ads as ‘legislative intent’. Courts have subsequently looked back at those ads to determine Congress’ intent. Intent is crucial to determining how the law will be interpreted and enforced.

In the final analysis, this created two tax systems, which I will explain in my next post.