Social media posts claiming Americans pay percentage of their taxes to Queen of England are fake
Last updated on: 30 June,2021 03:17 pm
"There is inaccurate information in this post."
(Reuters) - Social media posts which state that US taxpayers pay a percentage of their taxes to the Queen of England and that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is not actually an agency of the Federal government are false.
Examples of such posts can be seen here:
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Marty Thompson (@mcpainting02_pro_american_)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by @mass.awakening
The text in the posts read: “Americans pay a percentage of their taxes to the Queen of England via the IRS. The IRS is not an agency of the Federal Government. It is an agency of the International Monetary Fund which is an agency of the United Nations. No law has ever been passed legalizing the charging of income tax.”
The text appears to be taken from a page, where a social media user submitted a Freedom of Information request to the United Kingdom Treasury, which responded saying that it did not have the information available.
Similar posts include an IRS link which shows tax treaty documents for the United Kingdom on the IRS website.
The main and most recent document is titled “Convention between the government of the United States of America and the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital gains.”
The US has tax treaties with many countries for the purpose of exemption or reduced taxation for certain items of income taxes from US sources for the residents of these countries.
The IRS is a bureau of the Department of Treasury, which is an executive agency of the United States. It is not an agency of the International Monetary Fund as the posts claim.
Terry L. Lemons, communications and liaison chief at the Internal Revenue Service, told Reuters via email that the claim is false.
“The IRS is an agency of the Treasury Department and we work on behalf of United States taxpayers – no one else,” Lemons said. “There is inaccurate information in this post.”
The 16th amendment of the US Constitution, which was ratified in 1913, states: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
Hence, US taxpayers do not pay taxes to the Queen of England and the Internal Revenue Service is not an agency of the International Monetary Fund.