Like the IRS? Read this.

[tazz007]

http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=149200,00.html

The first paragraph said it all.

Brief History of IRS


Origin
The roots of IRS go back to the Civil War when President Lincoln and Congress, in 1862, created the position of commissioner of Internal Revenue and enacted an income tax to pay war expenses. The income tax was repealed 10 years later. Congress revived the income tax in 1894, but the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional the following year.

[Forever_frost]

http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=149200,00.html

The first paragraph said it all.

Brief History of IRS


Origin
The roots of IRS go back to the Civil War when President Lincoln and Congress, in 1862, created the position of commissioner of Internal Revenue and enacted an income tax to pay war expenses. The income tax was repealed 10 years later. Congress revived the income tax in 1894, but the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional the following year.

Except they went in and made it constitutional with an amendment

[ThreeFingerPete]

Except they went in and made it constitutional with an amendment

No, according to most documentation, the 16th amendment was not ratified by 3/4 of the states. Like most things in the government, they weren't willing to let a pesky thing like facts get in the way of a money factory, so they just went with it.

[Forever_frost]

From what I read, it was ratified by 42 states easily making the 36 state hurdle.

[ThreeFingerPete]

This is google-fu, but check it.

http://www.givemeliberty.org/features/taxes/notratified.htm

http://www.thelawthatneverwas.com/defects.aspx

[SlowLX]

http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/jsiegel/Personal/taxes/16th.htm

[Sean88gt]

From what I read, it was ratified by 42 states easily making the 36 state hurdle.

Because they knew they could tax as well.

[tazz007]

Go back and read the part in RED!

[Forever_frost]

Go back and read the part in RED!

Finish reading your own post. They then got enough states for an amendment which made it constitutional

16th Amendment
In 1913, Wyoming ratified the 16th Amendment, providing the three-quarter majority of states necessary to amend the Constitution. The 16th Amendment gave Congress the authority to enact an income tax. That same year, the first Form 1040 appeared after Congress levied a 1 percent tax on net personal incomes above $3,000 with a 6 percent surtax on incomes of more than $500,000.

[SlowLX]

The Supreme Court didn't rule that all income taxes were unconstitutional in 1895, only that taxes on interest and dividends were a form of direct taxation.

The 16th Amendment officially removed the requirement that federal income taxes be apportioned whether they are direct or indirect taxes and it was upheld in 1916 by the courts.

[Forever_frost]

I truly hate conspiracy theories. Seriously, there's an amendment for income taxes. It's in the constitution so it's legal. Don't have to like it but it's there

[Captain Crawfish]

gotsa have them IRS so i can get my govt cheese at the 1st of tha month. so many leaches to feed but never enough bread. times is hard oh yes i think i will go make some more babies and smoke a blunt

[SMEGMA STENCH]

I truly hate conspiracy theories. Seriously, there's an amendment for income taxes. It's in the constitution so it's legal. Don't have to like it but it's there

I think they are just saying that it was never legal to put it in there . As it was ruled out by other parts of the constitution