Here are a few snippets from cases that are relevant to the issue:
United States v. Latham, 754 F.2d 747, 750 (7 th Cir. 1985) - Calling the instructions Latham wanted given to the jury "inane," the court said, "[the] instruction which indicated that under 26 U.S.C. § 3401(c) the category of 'employee' does not include privately employed wage earners is a preposterous reading of the statute. It is obvious within the context of [the law] the word 'includes' is a term of enlargement not of limitation, and the reference to certain entities or categories is not intended to exclude all others."
Sullivan v. United States, 788 F.2d 813, 815 (1 st Cir. 1986) - The court rejected Sullivan's attempt to recover a civil penalty for filing a frivolous return, stating "to the extent [he] argues that he received no 'wages' . . . because he was not an 'employee' within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 3401(c), that contention is meritless. . . . The statute does not purport to limit withholding to the persons listed therein." The court imposed sanctions on Sullivan for bringing a frivolous appeal.
Peth v. Breitzmann, 611 F. Supp. 50, 53 (E.D. Wis. 1985) - The court rejected the taxpayer's argument "that he is not an 'employee' under I.R.C. § 3401(c) because he is not a federal officer, employee, elected official, or corporate officer," stating, "[he] mistakenly assumes that this definition of 'employee' excludes all other wage earners."
Pabon v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-476, 68 T.C.M. (CCH) 813, 816 (1994) - The court characterized Pabon's position - including that she was not subject to tax because she was not an employee of the federal or state governments - as "nothing but tax protester rhetoric and legalistic gibberish." The court imposed a penalty of $2,500 on Pabon for bringing a frivolous case, stating that she "regards this case as a vehicle to protest the tax laws of this country and espouse her own misguided views."
From a SCOTUS case regarding Title 26 section 3401 see Central Illinois Pub. Svc. Co. v. United States, 435 U.S. 21 (1978) at
http://supreme.justia.com/us/435/21/case.html
In Commissioner v. Kowalski, 434 U. S. 77 (1977), decided earlier this Term, the Court held that New Jersey's cash reimbursements to its highway patrol officers for meals consumed while on patrol duty constituted income to the officers, within the broad definition of gross income under § 61(a) of the 1954 Code, 26 U.S.C. § 61(a), and, further, that those cash payments were not excludable under § 119 of the Code, 26 U.S.C. § 119, relating to meals or lodging furnished for the convenience of the employer.
Kowalski, however, concerned the federal income tax and the issue of what was income. Its pertinency for the present withholding tax litigation is necessarily confined to the income tax aspects of the lunch reimbursements to the Company's employees.
The income tax issue is not before us in this case. We are confronted here, instead, with the question whether the lunch reimbursements, even though now they may be held to constitute taxable income to the employees who are reimbursed, are or are not "wages" subject to withholding, within the meaning and requirements of §§ 3401-3403 of the Code, 26 U.S.C. §§ 3401-3403 (1970 ed. and Supp. V). These withholding statutes are in Subtitle C of the Code. The income tax provisions constitute Subtitle A.
The income tax is imposed on taxable income. 26 U.S.C. § 1. Generally, this is gross income minus allowable deductions. 26 U.S.C. § 63(a). Section 61(a) defines as gross income "all income from whatever source derived" including, under § 61(a)(1), "[c]ompensation for services." The withholding tax, in some contrast, is confined to wages, § 3402(a), and § 3401(a) defines as "wages," "all remuneration (other than fees paid to a public official) for services performed by an employee for his employer, including the cash value of all remuneration paid in any medium other than cash."
The two concepts -- income and wages -- obviously are not necessarily the same. Wages usually are income, but many items qualify as income and yet clearly are not wages. Interest, rent, and dividends are ready examples. And the very definition of "wages" in § 3401(a) itself goes on specifically to exclude certain types of remuneration for an employee's services to his employer (e.g., combat pay, agricultural labor, certain domestic service). Our task, therefore, is to determine the character of the lunch reimbursements in the light of the definition of "wages" in § 3401(a), and the Company's consequent obligation to withhold under § 3402(a).
Before we proceed to the resolution of that issue, however, one further observation about the income tax aspect of lunch reimbursements is in order. Although United States v. Correll, 389 U. S. 299 (1967), restricting to overnight trips the travel expense deduction for meal costs under § 162(a)(2), dispelled some of the confusion, it is fair to say that, until this Court's very recent decision in Kowalski, the Courts of Appeals have been in disarray on the issue whether, under §§ 61 and 119 of the 1954 Code or under the respective predecessor sections of the 1939 Code, such reimbursements were income.
Please note the distinction between the income tax issue, whether payments may be held to constitute taxable income to the employees who are reimbursed, and whether the payments are or are not "wages" subject to withholding, within the meaning and requirements of §§ 3401-3403 of the Code, 26 U.S.C. §§ 3401-3403.
These are separate issues. Even if payments are not "wages" subject to withholding according to the statues in Subtitle C they may still be constitute taxable income to the recipient of the payment according to the statues in Subtitle A.
For the sake of argument, if it is conceded that one does not receive "wages" subject to withholding, within the meaning and requirements of §§ 3401-3403 of the Code, that does not exclude those payments from being within the broad definition of gross income under § 61(a) subject to the income tax imposed on taxable income in 26 U.S.C. § 1.
Hendrickson imagines that payments not subject to withholding are also not subject to income tax; but that is clearly contrary to the decisions of the Supreme Court.
I hope this helps you to understand what the law actually is rather than what Hendrickson, or you, or I might like it or imagine it to be.
“Where there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.” — Plato