Is Canadian Income Tax Unconstitutional? (Hint: No)

One thing that seems to cheer up my American skeptical friends is when they discover Canadians have their fair share of wingnuts and loonies. I gather many Americans view Canadians as reasonable people and not given to the nastiness that has emerged from the so-called Culture War. So when Americans find out Canadians are as bonkers, it gives them hope that maybe the inmates are not in charge of the insane asylum.

One of the odder claims by some is the idea that income tax is unconstitutional. Wesley Snipes’ problems with the IRS have brought some larger media attention to the notion that some people have the odd view they can ditch out on paying income tax by simply asserting income tax is unconstitutional. This ghost-shirt type tax dodge strikes me as wholly silly. Sure you can direct people to things like the 16th Amendment but at the end of the day I think the most powerful argument that there is nothing to this claim is the fact that no major law firm has ever, ever, ever taken up a class action lawsuit. You would think if the unconstitutionality was so obvious and clear cut to a B-list movie actor and people who mint their own gold currency that it would be as clear cut to big time law firms always hungry for the next big money class action suit. That no group of powerful lawyers have ever, ever, ever taken up such a suit in the last 40 years, won, collected a 40% cut, and then bought France with the proceeds indicates to me that most sane, rational legal minds fully understand income tax passes constitutional muster.