Pillar
Doctrine
What the law actually says at the source level — statutes, constitutional text, regulations, parsed on their own terms.
The reference layer. Essays here parse specific statutes, constitutional provisions, and regulatory texts without starting from either the establishment or alternative position.
Essays
Claims
Partially Supported
W2 Wages, Cost Basis, and the Asymmetry the Tax Code Won't Explain
The claim that wages aren't 'income' has been rejected by every federal court that's heard it. But buried inside the losing argument is a genuine observation: labor is the only factor of production denied a cost basis. That asymmetry is real, indefensible, and worth understanding on its own terms.
Doctrine
Unresolved
What "Income" Means — and Why a Century of Case Law Hasn't Settled It
The Sixteenth Amendment uses 'income' without defining it. Eisner v. Macomber tried. Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass tried again. Neither fully succeeded. The resulting ambiguity is not a conspiracy — it's a real doctrinal gap with real consequences.