Is the Income Tax Slavery? No.

From: C
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2018 8:31 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Indentured servitude

Dr. Block,

Is income taxation involuntary servitude?

I ask because the first section of the 13th Amendment reads “Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The 16th Amendment reads, simply “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.” Are not these two concepts diametric opposites? Isn’t taxation of my labor a form of involuntary servitude? Does the latter Amendment supersede the former? Respectfully, C

From: Walter Block [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 10:41 PM
To: C
Subject: RE: Indentured servitude

Dear C:

I don’t think income taxation is involuntary servitude. I think it is theft.

Best regards,

Walter

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3:05 pm on November 12, 2018