Senators to Unveil the ‘Ex-Patriot Act’ to Respond to Facebook’s Saverin’s Tax ‘Scheme’

[dairydog91]

39. I think you misunderstood the statute.

It concerns people who are legally obligated to "collect, truthfully account for, and pay over any tax imposed by this title." An example would be an employer who is obligated to collect, account for, and pay withholding taxes on behalf of his employees. The statute penalizes such a person for tax evasion.

You might have been looking for something like Glenshaw Glass, a case in which SCOTUS ruled that Congress's power to collect income taxes under the 16th Amendment was very broad. Essentially, the court found that Congress may tax anything that is "income," very broadly defined. "undeniable accessions to wealth, clearly realized, and over which the taxpayers have complete dominion" would be the definition of income. So yes, Congress can impose a tax of whatever it wants on income. Of course, the problem with ex-pats is that they are no longer citizens, and countries normally do not tax the citizens of other countries, for obvious reasons of basic national sovereignty.