The Tangled Web Of Taxation - Part 1

     What a tangled web of ignorance we have woven on the issue of taxes. The debate is endless, as hard-working people like us sink deeper into the quicksand of poverty at the hands of the greedy few, as they assure us that raising taxes on people will solve everything. How the American tax system was meant to be is to us like a dense fog. Seems nobody really knows, especially those who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. Or they don't care to know. It's working pretty good for them just the way it is. I'd like to clear away some of that fog, if only to sacrifice the blissfulness of my own ignorance and get a good painful look at the way things were supposed to be. The truth really does hurt.
     The underlying principle within the Constitution is the sovereignty of the states in all domestic matters. The Federal government has no jurisdiction in a State of the Union and the citizens of that State. It cannot assess or collect taxes where it has no jurisdiction. It does have, however, direct taxing authority in those territories that it has purchased - District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin islands, American Samoa - and any foreign business or corporation operating within the geographical United States. These kind of taxes are called "excise" taxes. They are taxes on a privilege. The government is granting foreigners the privilege to operate a business within the states.
     Believe it or not, the government does not have the Constitutional authority to directly tax any American business owned by an American citizen. It has no authority to directly tax the wages of an American citizen. For the American citizen, operating a business and making a living is a RIGHT, not a privilege. A right cannot be taxed. Only the State has the authority to tax its citizens if it so chooses, and that in proportion to its population. The government has the authority to tax any foreigner working within any State, but not a  citizen of that State. So how do you explain the 16th Amendment?