Tags
Section-3401
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
Supported
The IRC distinguishes "wages" from "income" in specific statutory contexts
The Code uses 'wages' and 'income' as distinct terms in some provisions. The distinction is real — but it does not do the work that wages-aren't-income theorists need it to do.
Cracking the Code
Claims wages are not 'income' under the IRC. Core thesis rests on a specific reading of 26 U.S.C. §3401(a).