Today a little break from regular tax saving and planning ideas. Did you know that President Lincoln actually signed the IRS into existance in 1862? He signed a bill creating the Commission of Internal Revenue which was assigned the job of collecting an income tax to fund the civil war. The tax was repealed 10 years later and there has been fighting about income taxes ever since. When the states ‘ratified’ the sixteenth amendment to the constitution in 1913, a federal income tax became constitutional. Because only 4 of the 42 states that ratified the amendment did so word for word (there were typos in the ratifications, mispellings, etc. – but the solicitor in charge ruled that they were minor and the intent was there, and since all other amendments to the Constitution had at least as many problems (if not more), the decision was that the amendment had been ratified) there has always been the argument that the 16th amendment is fraudulent and that you can clain such and not file with the IRS. Do so at your peril. Every challenge to the right of the govement to tax us has been struck down, and to not pay taxes knowingly can land you in jail. Let me help you file correctly and with planning try to minimize the taxes you do owe. Hey, I guess this still is a saving and planning idea as well as a history lesson.