I trade my labor/skills/knowledge evenly for a set amount.
I make no gain in doing so as my time and labor are the only thing I truly own.
If I make a financial gain from investing what I've made in that even trade (rent house, stocks, etc.) then that, to me, is the only thing that should be taxed.
If I'm never given the opportunity to make a gain, due to my labor being taxed beforehand in the form of an income tax, I'll never rise above a certain, limited level of wealth.
“To me the income tax is supposed to be a tax on gain”
It is, but they measure that by the amount of new wealth you possess, not on any activity. The reason prior to the 16th amendment they could tax imports, consumption, etc. is because those involved discreet activities. They didn’t tax the possession of whiskey with excise taxes, but the purchase thereof. To tax possession would be a direct tax.
Same with taxing income. If they taxed the exchange of money from the employer’s hand to yours like a sale, then it would be not be a head tax. But they don’t; they tax you according to how much you owen at the end of the year as compared to last year. And that is a direct tax.
“I trade my labor/skills/knowledge evenly for a set amount.
I make no gain in doing so as my time and labor are the only thing I truly own.
If I make a financial gain from investing what I’ve made in that even trade (rent house, stocks, etc.) then that, to me, is the only thing that should be taxed”
I don’t really understand the distinction. You do own your time and labor, but there’s nothing less “true” about how you own property. Your person and the activities in which you choose to participate are perhaps more fundamental and less abstract than how you own stock or land, for instance. But that shouldn’t make a difference, and actually doesn’t, as to whether they’re allowed to be taxed.
“I trade my labor/skills/knowledge evenly for a set amount.
I make no gain in doing so as my time and labor”
You absolutely do gain, and no one trades their whatever evenly and for a set amount. You are remunerated differently depending on what you’re doing and how others value it. If that weren’t true, no one would ever bother switching jobs.