It is January 31. Welcome to yestohellwith.com.

This past week, we examined definitions:person, United States person, individual.We examined real excise taxes—the airline travel excise and the firearms occupational excise—and we saw what lawful federal taxation actually looks like when Congress does its job.

Now let’s put 26 U.S.C. § 1 next to those statutes and tell the truth.

Section 1 begins with familiar language:

“There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every individual…”

At first glance, that looks like a levy.But structurally, it is nothing like the airline excise or the firearms excise.

And that difference matters.

REAL EXCISES START WITH JURISDICTION

Look at the airline excise under 26 U.S.C. § 4261.

Congress:

defines the taxable activity (air transportation),

defines the jurisdictional domain (federally regulated air commerce),

identifies the liable party (“the person making the payment”),

and ties obligation to a voluntary act.

No ticket.No jurisdiction.No tax.

That is lawful structure.

Now look at the firearms occupational tax under 26 U.S.C. § 5801.

Congress:

defines a regulated federal activity,

limits the tax to importers, manufacturers, and dealers,

ties jurisdiction to voluntary entry into a federally regulated occupation,

and imposes a status-based excise only after that status exists.

No occupation.No status.No tax.

Again—lawful structure.

26 U.S.C. § 1 DOES NONE OF THIS

Section 1 does not define:

what makes an “individual” taxable,

where federal jurisdiction attaches,

what conduct triggers liability,

or how a living man or woman enters the taxable class.

Instead, § 1 assumes all of that work has already been done.

It taxes “taxable income” of “every individual” without establishing:

jurisdiction,

status,

or a voluntary federal nexus.

That is not how excises work.That is not how lawful taxation works.

That is presumption doing the work Congress failed to do explicitly.

SECTION 1 IS A RATE SCHEDULE, NOT A COMPLETE TAX

Structurally, § 1 is incomplete.

It provides:

rates,

brackets,

calculations.

What it does not provide is the jurisdictional hook.

Unlike the airline excise, § 1 does not say:

“upon the act of earning income within federal jurisdiction…”

Unlike the firearms excise, it does not say:

“on persons engaged in a federally regulated occupation…”

It simply assumes the subject is already inside the system.

That assumption is fatal under LD analysis.

THIS IS WHY ENFORCEMENT RUNS BACKWARDS

Because § 1 lacks clear jurisdictional structure, enforcement proceeds by:

presuming “individual” equals taxable person,

presuming “income” equals taxable income,

presuming federal jurisdiction by silence,

and forcing the burden onto the accused to disprove status.

That inversion does not happen with real excises.

No one buying an airline ticket has to argue jurisdiction.No firearms dealer has to guess whether they are regulated.

Jurisdiction is created first, not asserted later.

THE LD CONCLUSION

26 U.S.C. § 1 is inferior because it:

does not define the taxable class,

does not establish jurisdiction,

does not tie obligation to a voluntary federal activity,

and relies on presumption instead of structure.

By contrast, the airline and firearms excises:

identify authority,

establish jurisdiction,

define status or conduct,

and let obligation arise last.

That is the difference between lawful taxation and administrative coercion.

The Liberty Dialogues does not deny Congress’s power to tax.It exposes where Congress failed to do so lawfully.

A real excise does not need silence to operate.A real excise does not fear definition.A real excise does not require presumption.

Section 1 does.

And that tells you everything.