Taxation And Irs

Is a quote describing birth certificates as enslaving tools really found in Woodrow Wilson's private papers or those of his adviser Edward Mandell House? No, that's not true: Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library staff said they found no such quote in their archive. A spokesperson for the library that holds House's papers told Lead Stories they found no reference to…

Did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act raise taxes on most people earning under $75,000? No, that's not true: The 2017 law aimed to lower taxes for individuals through measures such as reducing income tax rates and raising the standard deduction. While the vast majority in the under $75,000 income group benefited from reduced taxes, a small percentage saw their…

Does a section of the U.S. Code, cited in a video on social media, exempt American workers from paying taxes? No, that's not true: No section of the U.S. Code universally exempts American workers from paying taxes. The section of the U.S. Code highlighted in the video pertains to the taxation of federal reserve banks, not individuals. The claim appeared…

Would the Internal Revenue Service receive over 66 percent of a $1.28 billion lottery prize if someone wins it? No, that's not true: The claim significantly overestimated federal tax payments because it did not consider that the lump sum payment is almost always less than the advertised value since it's determined by how much cash the entity selling lottery tickets…

Did Americans keep "100%" of their earnings up until 1913? Not exactly: While the 16th Amendment, which taxed individual income, was ratified in 1913, some higher-earning Americans paid income taxes between 1862 and 1872 to pay off the cost of the Civil War to the U.S. government. A tax expert with whom Lead Stories spoke listed additional pre-1913 taxes that…

Are Federal Reserve notes -- commonly known as paper money -- just "obligations" and therefore exempt from taxes? And does the U.S. Constitution say gold and silver are the only form of "lawful money" to be used in paying debts? No, neither of those claims are true. The Constitution does not specify any particular form of currency, and under federal…

Does the student loan forgiveness program announced by the Biden administration on August 25, 2022, treat canceled student debt as taxable income? No, that's not true. Although debt cancellation is usually considered taxable, the Biden student debt relief falls under the American Rescue Plan, which exempts most student debt relief from taxation through the end of 2025. The claim appeared…

Did former President Donald Trump pass a bill in 2017 that increased tax rates for taxpayers making $75,000 or less starting in 2021 and ending in 2027? No, that's not true: Although an analysis of the 2017 Tax Cuts And Jobs Act (TCJA) suggested that the tax rate would increase for low-income earners in 2021, that analysis is misleading. The…

Do users making personal payments on peer-to-peer payment systems like Cash App and PayPal have to follow a "tax rule" for transactions that exceed $600? No, that's not true: No such "tax rule" exists, only a reporting adjustment for business transactions. Although the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 changed the reporting requirements for transactions that take place through peer-to-peer…

Can you declare yourself not a U.S. citizen to avoid paying taxes to the IRS? No, that's not true: The U.S. Constitution and the Internal Revenue Code clearly define citizenship and how a "person" is defined for tax purposes. The tactic is used by several groups, including the "sovereign citizen" movement. The FBI calls its followers "anti-government extremists who believe…