[BaBaStooey]

Let's review.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.


Congress shall not establish a national religion. Check.
Congress shall not prohibit the free exercise of religion. Check.
Congress shall not abridge the freedom of speech or of the press. Check.

Yes, I believe all of these take precedence over anything the IRS is planning to do. Congress created the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue in 1862 (Revenue Act of 1862). Therefore, an agency created by Congress cannot infringe on these rights.

[xzins]

Right on the money! (no pun intended)

[pigdog]

And at that time it was called (from memory) the Bureau of Internal Revenue - and here's a copy of the first income tax form from 1863.

The 1862 tax act also created what is now the IRS but it was then called the Bureau of Internal Revenue, whose first commissioner, George Boutwell, described it as "the largest Government department ever organized."

He seems to have been quite right and it's still with us today ... and still growing.