You know I hear this from the more, uh, exuberant quarters of the limited government crowd quite often. Has any mainstream outlet — by which I do not mean documentarians working on YouTube — answered the charge that there is no law which requires we pay an income tax or whatever it is these folks claim?

Update: Ask and ye shall receive. Wikipedia has an entry on the various controversies.

Update II: In response to various readers: Oh come on folks, can’t you tell I’m being tongue-in-cheek? There are all sorts of fever swamp things I don’t know the answer to that I’m assuming some sane person dealt with. Like all of those 9/11 conspiracies. I know they’re b.s. but sometimes its useful if someone actually takes the time to explain why they’re b.s. That’s what I was looking for.

Update III: A reader sends some useful links.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/friv_tax.pdf
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/jsiegel/Personal/taxes/IncomeTax.htm
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/jsiegel/Personal/taxes/JustNoLaw.htm