Cracking the Code
Hendrickson’s argument identifies a real textual feature of the Code — the distinction between “wages” in §3401(a) and “income” in §61 — and overextends it into a theory that the federal income tax does not reach private-sector wages. The textual observation is correct; the legal conclusion is foreclosed. Hendrickson was prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated for filing returns based on his theory; his wife was prosecuted separately for the same conduct.
The book remains widely circulated and is the proximate source of much contemporary “wages aren’t income” argumentation in alternate-tax communities.