This was tried during the 1980s and the government broke up the movement by imposing an "income tax" on all bartered items and goods. The IRS can declare bartered items and goods as "income" for the same reason they can declare wages as "income". Although in reality, a wage represents nothing more than a bartered item given in exchange for time spent on a job. The way the courts and the The IRS look at it, they can can declare virtually anything as income because the tax code (Title 26) contains no defintion of what "income" actually consist of.
Bartering networks provide liquidity in cash-starved economy
This was tried during the 1980s and the government broke up the movement by imposing an "income tax" on all bartered items and goods. The IRS can declare bartered items and goods as "income" for the same reason they can declare wages as "income". Although in reality, a wage represents nothing more than a bartered item given in exchange for time spent on a job. The way the courts and the The IRS look at it, they can can declare virtually anything as income because the tax code (Title 26) contains no defintion of what "income" actually consist of.