Wages and Income are not synonymous —with respect to labor, gain, or profit.
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Realizing the Wage Tax is Not Constitutional
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This page changed with the
August 03, 2025 edit.
Critical Thinking Exercise:
Are employees generally paid the full value of their labor?
If the employee is not receiving the full value; who benefits from the excess value not transferred to the employee?
Employee labor creates value for the business. The business sells that labor-value to their customers.
When the employer sells the goods and services produces by the employee; this is a source of some the employer's income; that gain, which proceeds from labor.
The wages and salary received by the employees are generally less in value than the income that the labor produced for the business. Thus, the business profits and gains from the labor.
Logically: Since the employee is not receiving the full value of their labor; the employee is working at a financial loss. Wages and Salary are not taxable as income for the employee.
Old Dictionary time:
Now, it is time to discover what the Amendment 16 generation was actually granting.
Definition images, from the older dictionaries, are at Glossary of Old Words; some of those words are directly linked below where used.
Congress passed Amendment 16 on July 2, 1909. The States ratified it on February 3, 1913.
Theories exist that Amendment 16 never got enough States to ratify it. However, this presentation advances as though the Article 5 process was constitutionally completed.
Amendment 16th grants the following power to Congress, with a few restrictions:
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.
Amendment 16 specifically grants this powers to Congress. This would prohibit the power to the States. But this can be discussed another time.
Income — 1898
3. The gain which proceeds from labor [...and other for profit items listed as sources of income...]
Gain — 1898
1. That which is gained, obtained, or acquired, as increase, profit, advantage, or benefit;—opposed to loss
2. The obtaining or amassing of profit or valuable possessions; acquisition; accumulation.
Wages — 1898
A compensation given to a hired person for services; price paid for labor; recompense; hire. See Wage, n., 2.
Compensation — 1898
2. That which constitutes, or is regarded as, an equivalent; that which makes good the lack or variation of something else; that which compensates for loss or privation; amends; remuneration; recompense
3. (Law) (b) A recompense or reward for some loss or service.
Recompense — 1898
An equivalent returned for anything done, suffered, or given; compensation; requital; suitable return.
Since employees work at a financial loss; based on the time and skills they provide to their employers; the Amendment 16 generation had no intent to tax the compensation for labor, —but rather to tax that gain which proceeds from the labor.
Constitutionally; wages —are not taxable as income.
However, there are two times prior to Amendment 13 that the nation's government directly taxed citizens via their income. So we quickly review them.
Pre 1913 Constitution on Income or direct Taxes:
Because of the government's prior history with INCOME TAX between 1790 and the present; the remaining argument presents a more complete investigation: First, by way of the definitions. Second, the application.
In 1790, The Constitution of the United States of America was contractually ratified in accord with the terms dictated in The Articles of Confederation, which was the constitution that would be massively altered by way of a total replacement.
The Constitution of the United States of America and its position on direct taxation:
Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3: "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons[...]"
Congress approves a budget, and determines each State's portion based on the ten-year enumeration.
At the state level; The Declaration's tax authorization requirement; each body of State registered voters to consent to what is to be taxed and by what rate; in order to satisfy their State's portion of the tax. This was intended to keep the nation's government under the Article 5 control by the States and the governed people.
This means that the State governments paid this tax. Not the individuals directly. It kept the federal government out of the people's private financial affairs and papers; protected by Amendment 4.
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 4: "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken."
This capitation tax and direct tax must be in proportion to the enumeration, because The Constitution never granted power to do a census.
This capitation or direct tax must also be paid directly by the State government, —not the individual citizens directly.
This direct tax is the same covered in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and must be apportioned among the states because it uses the same apportioning enumeration.
Income tax variations before 1913:
Abraham Lincoln needed his Revenue Act of 1861, the first income tax, so he could fund his war.
Lincoln's income tax violated The Constitution, because it taxed individuals directly, when it was supposed to be apportioned among the States; as seen above.
Lincoln's tax expired in 1872; shortly after his war ended.
Grover Cleveland's income tax, the Tariff of 1894 (Wilson-Gorman Tariff) was designed to shift the tax burden from the importers who directly profited, to the general population; whether they bought the once tariffed products products or not.
Cleveland's tax ended in 1895 with a supreme Court declaration that the Act violated The Constitution's Direct Tax clauses.
Next, is the present Woodrow Wilson income tax of 1913, Topic no. 401, Wages and salaries by way of Amendment 16. It too, was supposed to shift the tax burden from those who profit to that of the general population. Shifting from tariffs to income tax. This also was a way to fund another global war, they called World War 1.
With Amendment 16, every income tax practice and definition prior to 1913 ended and ceased to exist.
So now, we need only focus on the Amendment 16 content itself; not the prior practices.
Tariff's dual purposes protect domestic jobs and economy; as well as funding constitutionally authorized government activity (the common defense and general welfare of the nation).
When Amendment 16 passed, it altered every aspect of the income tax practices before 1913.
From here, we focus on Amendment 16 and its various elements.
Dissecting Amendment 16
"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."
Powers granted & not-granted:
1. Lay and collect taxes on income.
2. However, the "From whatever source derived" allows Congress to pick and chuse what types of actual income are taxed, and at what rate.
3. Amendment 14, Section 1; "[...] equal protection of the laws".
The poll-tax, head-tax, or capitation-tax seem to be equal. Everyone pays the same dollar amount. However, everyone does not possess the same physical or mental capacities to pay the same dollar value without financially harming themselves.
On the other hand; taxing the same percentage rate on that which is actual income (gain, profit, etc.); those who have more, still pay the same percent on each dollar as the person in poverty for each dollar of actual income they receive. The individual is not punished with a higher rate for doing or having more. Nor is the person reward with a lower rate for doing or having less.
4. Amendment 16 does not specifically define what is income. The enforceable definition must be according to how the 1913 population defined income from their common dictionaries.
5. Congress cannot define or redefine what is income. The power is not granted. It requires the Article 5 amendment process.
6. The tax cannot be apportioned among the several States.
7. The tax cannot use any census. The Constitution never authorized government to do a census at all; see the unconstitutional census. These tax forms also violate Amendment 4, by demanding access to private papers without a specific warrant.
8. It cannot require filing the present IRS tax forms; because, by pre-Amendment 16 definitions, they are an annual census.
9. It cannot use an enumeration.
10. Congress cannot use income definitions contained in prior income tax attempts.
Are wages and salary taxable as income?
The Constitution of the United States of America, Amendment 16; authorizes Congress to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived. It does not grant the power to define and redefine what is income.
As was done with 'census', we check the definition-evolution for wages and income from the 1828 through the 2024 definitions.
Caution must be exercised when selecting the dictionary from which to define Amendment 16 words.
How did the 1913 generation define wages and income? It is likely that many citizens possessed 1898 dictionaries.
Old Dictionary Time:
What is: Income
and
Are wages and income synonymous; with respect to Amendment 16's income tax?
Definition-evolution for income and wages; pre- and post-Amendment 16.
Income — 1828
1. That gain which proceeds from labor, business or property of any kind; the produce of a farm; the rent of houses; the proceeds of professional business; the profit of commerce or of occupation; the interest of money or stock in funds. Income is often used synonymously with revenue, but income is more generally applied to the gain of private persons, and revenue to that of a sovereign or of a state. We speak of the annual income of a gentleman, and the annual revenue of the state.
Notice: The gain from labor; the profits of commerce or of occupation; the interest of money; the gain of private persons. No mention of wages, salary, or compensation; yet, all are connected to labor.
Income — 1898
3. The gain which proceeds from labor, business, property, or capital of any kind, as the produce of a farm, the rent of houses, the proceeds of a professional business, the profits of commerce or of occupation, or the interest of money or stocks in funds, etc.; revenue; receipts; salary; especially, the annual receipts of a private person or a corporation, from property; as a large income.
Notice: The gain which proceeds from labor; the profits of commerce or of occupation; the interest of money. This includes salary; but not yet, wages or income. Salary is paid to management. Wages to the unskilled laborer.
Income — 1916
3. That gain which proceeds from labor, business, or property; revenue; receipts; wages or salary.
3 b. —Syn. Profit, proceeds, interest, emolument, produce.
Income Tax — 1916
A tax on a person's income, emoluments, profits, etc., or on the excess over a certain amount.
Notice: Only three years after passing Amendment 16; the dictionaries began altering the constitutional definition for Income, established prior to 1913. The 1916 definition now includes "wages or salary".
In the IRS: Topic no. 401, Wages and salaries; it states: "All wages, salaries and tips you received for performing services as an employee of an employer must be included in your gross income." This IRS Topic changes the pre-1913 definitions for what is income, by now including that which was expressly excluded; by referring to only that gain which proceedes form labor.
Income — 1960
2. The money or other gain periodically received by an individual, corporation, etc., for labor or services, or from property, investments, operations, etc.: abbreviated inc.
Income Tax — 1960
A tax on income or on that part of income which exceeds a certain amount.
The way 1960 words the definition, it excludes wages and salary; because that money for labor is not a gain. It is a loss, based on the profits gained by the employer that are not passed to the employee.
Income — 2024
Money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investments.
Wage — 1828
5. To take to hire; to hire for pay; to employ for wages; as waged soldiers.
Wages — 1828
1. Hire; reward; that for which is paid or stipulated for services, but chiefly for services by manual labor, or for military and naval services. We speak of a servant's wages, a laborer's wages, or a soldier's wages; but we never apply the word to the rewards given to men in office, which are called fee or salary. The word is however sometimes applied to the compensation given to representatives in the legislature.
Wage — 1898
2. That for which one labors; mead; reward; stipulated payment; —at present, used in the plural. See Wages.
Wages — 1898
A compensation given to a hired person for services; price paid for labor; recompense; hire. See Wage, n. #2
Compensate — 1898
To make amends; to supply an equivalent; —followed by for; as, nothing can compensate for the loss of reputation.
Compensation — 1898
2. That which constitutes, or is regarded as, an equivalent; that which makes good the lack or variation of something else; that which compensates for loss or privation; amends; remuneration; recompense.
Recompense — 1898
2. v.t. To return an equivalent for; to give compensation for; to atone for; to pay for.
3. v.t. To give in return; to pay back; to pay, as something earned or deserved.
n. An equivalent returned for anything done, suffered, or given; compensation; requital; suitable return.
Note: Wages, so far, is nothing more than the employer repaying a debt to the employee for the labor they provided to the employer. Rarely does the employer make an equivalent or greater return in cash to the employee for the services performed. Employees are rarely compensated the full value of the labor they perform. As such, the employee works to a financial loss, in comparison to the value of service provided.
Wage — 1916
-n 2. That for which is pledged or paid for services; hire; pay; chiefly in the pl..
Wages — 1916
1. Specif., pay given for labor, usually manual or mechanical, at short stated intervals, as disting. from salary or fee.
Wages — 2024
A fixed regular payment, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis, made by an employer to an employee, especially to a manual unskilled worker.
Up to this 1898, wages has been as it states in the 1898 definition, a compensation paid for labor. It was never considered a gain for the person to whom it was paid; but merely an agreed reimbursement.
Living Document
Yes. The Constitution of the United States of America is a "living" document, in that it is supposed to be kept current with an ever-changing society. That is the purpose for Article 5.
That amendment process does not include the use of more modern dictionaries to redefine constitutional content to make it appear as though congressional acts comply with constitutional restraints. If an error of omission was made in the Constitution or one of the amendments, at the time it was ratified; simply propose another amendment to clear up the matter.
When the government uses an unconstitutional way of adjusting or redefining words used in The Constitution; This directly violates the Article 5 Amendment process.
In violating The Constitution, Congress commits treason, as detailed in Article 3, Section 3.
Even if the definitions were not successfully defended
Even if you disagree with the definitions regarding wages not being a gain and not being taxable as income; the IRS tax code violates Amedment 16 by using at least one of two forms of a census and or an enumeration to determine the variable rates to tax the rich with a higher percentage rate than the poor.
And with the use of a census or an enumeration; the tax code violates Amendment 16 and no citizen is obligated to obey unconstitutional laws.
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Unconstitutionally applied Income & Wage Tax —Replaced
to get Equality With Taxation