As we mark April 15, I walk through a big‑picture history of the U.S. income tax and the legal machinery that surrounds it. We revisit Woodrow Wilson’s 1913 repudiation of “dollar diplomacy,” discuss how centuries‑old English revenue practices and merchant law influenced American collection procedures, and unpack why Supreme Court cases like Murray’s Lessee v. Hoboken Land & Improvement Co. still get cited. I also outline practical takeaways listeners asked about: sequencing federal vs. state filings, why building a strong administrative record matters, and how modern “self‑help” collection remedies grew out of commercial law. Along the way I highlight resources that shaped my own thinking—Charles Adams’s For Good and Evil and Those Dirty Rotten Taxes, the C‑SPAN Booknotes interview with Adams, and primary‑source links to key statutes and doctrine (26 CFR 1.1‑1; UCC §9‑609 on repossession). If you want to dig deeper into Austrian‑school perspectives, I point you to the Mises Institute and a Charles Adams essay archive on LewRockwell. Replays and livestreams are available via our Global Voice Radio outlets and partners listed below.

Global Voice Radio Network (site): https://www.globalvoiceradio.net/
Euro Folk Radio (syndication partner mentioned): https://eurofolkradio.com/
Radio Soapbox (partner mentioned): https://radiosoapbox.com/
Global Voice on Rumble (channel link referenced on our site): https://rumble.com/user/pgbiener
C‑SPAN Booknotes: Charles Adams on For Good and Evil: https://booknotes.c-span.org/Watch/40556-1
Book — For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization (official publisher page): https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/For-Good-and-Evil/Charles-Adams/9781568332642
Book — Those Dirty Rotten Taxes: The Tax Revolts that Built America (official publisher page): https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Those-Dirty-Rotten-taxes/Charles-Adams/9780684871141
Article — Charles Adams: A Brief Tax History of America (LewRockwell archive): https://www.lewrockwell.com/2006/10/charles-adams/a-brief-tax-history-of-america/
Primary source — Woodrow Wilson, “Repudiation of ‘Dollar Diplomacy’” (1913): https://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/johnson/4698ww%24%24.htm
Supreme Court — Murray’s Lessee v. Hoboken Land & Improvement Co. (1856) case text: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/59/272/
Regulation — 26 CFR § 1.1‑1 (Income tax on individuals), Cornell LII: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.1-1
UCC — Article 9 § 9‑609 (Secured party’s right to take possession after default), Cornell LII: https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/9/9-609
Mises Institute (Austrian‑school resource mentioned): https://mises.org/
IRS — About the IRS (organization and Treasury relationship): https://www.irs.gov/about-irs
FreeConferenceCall (platform referenced for call‑ins): https://www.freeconferencecall.com/