You’re by no means the first one to offer up that query, as the issue has spawned a fair amount of debate in recent years. If you don’t think so, check out any of the hundreds of Web sites that question the legality of income tax. Just last year the House of Representatives approved a resolution to outlaw the income tax, but the measure died when the Senate refused to consider it. But, since you asked, here are five good reasons paying your federal income taxes is pretty much a must: Reason 1: Congress said so. At the heart of the brouhaha is the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1913, which established a federal income tax. Its full text is: “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 of enumeration.” We should note that Congress approved the 16th amendment in 1909, the same year it established a corporate income tax. Ratification took another four years. It wasn't the first time an income tax was approved. An income tax was imposed on the North during the Civil War. Another was declared unconstitutional in 1895 and led directly to the 16th amendment. Reason 2: Enough states approved the amendment. Other legal authorities have no doubt that the federal income tax amendment was ratified by a sufficient number of states and in the proper manner. Reason 3: Even though the Internal Revenue Code doesn’t explicitly say so, the IRS has the authority to collect an income tax. Another point raised by income tax opponents is that nowhere does a law exist that specifically empowers the federal government to collect an income tax. Reason 4: The federal income tax does not run counter to the Constitution. Yet another argument anti-income tax forces make is that the income tax violates the Constitution by the fact that it’s neither a uniform nor an apportioned tax (A quick legal lesson: uniform, as the name implies, means that the tax is applied the same throughout the country. Apportioned tax refers to clauses in the Constitution that required taxes to be apportioned among the states based on population -- the more people, the greater the tax burden.) Reason 5: Why risk fines and/or jail time? Legal authorities who say federal income tax is perfectly legal note that courts have consistently ruled against citizens who refuse to pay their just due. Fines -- and occasional time in the slammer -- have been meted out as a result of such cases.