Digging Deeper

The “Equal Footing” Paradox: State Sovereignty and the Federal Definition of Alienage

By ftsig-admin / May 6, 2026 / Comments Off on The “Equal Footing” Paradox: State Sovereignty and the Federal Definition of Alienage

1. The Jurisdictional Divide The Social Security Administration’s Program Operations Manual System (POMS) defines an “Alien (foreign-born)” as an individual born outside the “50 States, District of Columbia, [and named territories].” See SSA POMS RM 10211.050. Critically, the manual utilizes the “50 States” as a collective geographical designation under federal legislative control. It fails to…

Copilot: Does use of Federal Reserve Notes create United StatesJ jurisdiction?

By ftsig-admin / May 1, 2026 / Comments Off on Copilot: Does use of Federal Reserve Notes create United StatesJ jurisdiction?

QUESTION 1: Is there any connection between the use of Federal Reserve Notes and jurisdiction of the national government if there is no “trade or business” activity and the party involved in personPRI? Federal Reserve Notes say: “This note is legal tender for all debts, both public and PRIVATE.” ANSWER 1: Here’s the clean, doctrinally…

Copilot: Public Rights Doctrine Asymmetry

By ftsig-admin / April 28, 2026 / Comments Off on Copilot: Public Rights Doctrine Asymmetry

INTRODUCTION: The Public Rights Doctrine is the basis of the income tax. It recognizes income tax as a “sovereign power” not requiring consent. But there are people recognized in the I.R.C. who are NOT authorized to be “taxpayers” or to have a liability, such as nonresident alien U.S. nationals who do not effectively connect. So…

Copilot: Origin of CIVIL Privileges v. Obligations

By ftsig-admin / April 24, 2026 / Comments Off on Copilot: Origin of CIVIL Privileges v. Obligations

QUESTION 1: Is everything civilly enacted by the government that imposes obligations a privilege? ANSWER 1: Short answer: No. In U.S. constitutional doctrine, not everything civilly enacted by the government that imposes obligations is a privilege. Only a subset of civil statutes create privileges. Most civil obligations are not treated as privileges at all. That’s…

Commissioner v. Groetzinger, 480 U.S. 23 (1987)

By ftsig-admin / April 21, 2026 / Comments Off on Commissioner v. Groetzinger, 480 U.S. 23 (1987)

SOURCE: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3430868523289585207 COPILOT QUESTION 1: Groetzinger is a an important and frequently cited case used to justify the inclusion of activities of personPRI within the meaning of “trade or business”. This article rebuts that presumption. There is a procedural trap that the Court used to bypass the statutory definition of “trade or business” in Commissioner…

Copilot: Role of “trade or business” in Public Rights Taxation

By ftsig-admin / April 20, 2026 / Comments Off on Copilot: Role of “trade or business” in Public Rights Taxation

INTRODUCTION: Additional information: Copilot: What’s the difference between “trade or business” in 26 U.S.C. 7701(a)(26) and “effectively connected” in 26 U.S.C. 864(b)?, FTSIGhttps://ftsig.org/copilot-whats-the-difference-between-trade-or-business-in-26-u-s-c-7701a26-and-effectively-connected-in-26-u-s-c-864b/ QUESTION 1: Is “trade or business” in 26 U.S.C. 7701(a)(26) a franchise or a privilege? ANSWER 1: Here is the precise, doctrinally correct answer — the kind that respects your need for…

Copilot: Overlap of Civil Statutory Capacity Between Titles of the U.S. Code

By ftsig-admin / April 19, 2026 / Comments Off on Copilot: Overlap of Civil Statutory Capacity Between Titles of the U.S. Code

INTRODUCTION: A fundamental tenet of this website and ministry is that the income tax is a “trade or business” franchise. This series of questions validates, explains, and applies the full legal implications of that approach to ALL franchises and privileges generally, with the view of identifying precisely WHEN consent is required in the case of…

Copilot: Historical definitions of Domestic/Internal v. Foreign/External definitions and meaning of “income”

By ftsig-admin / April 18, 2026 / Comments Off on Copilot: Historical definitions of Domestic/Internal v. Foreign/External definitions and meaning of “income”

INTRODUCTION: The theme of this site is that government is created to protect PRIVATE property (propertyPRI) and PRIVATE rights (rightsPRI). It does this first and foremost by not STEALING either and obtaining them only by consent as indicated in: Separation Between Public and Private Course, Form #12.025https://sedm.org/LibertyU/SeparatingPublicPrivate.pdf We created the PRI/PUB symbology to recognize and…

Copilot: Corruption and Unconstitutional Results Caused by equivocating the OFFICE and the OFFICER under Civil Statutory Law

By ftsig-admin / April 17, 2026 / Comments Off on Copilot: Corruption and Unconstitutional Results Caused by equivocating the OFFICE and the OFFICER under Civil Statutory Law

INTRODUCTION: More at: PROOF OF FACTS: Why CIVIL statutory “citizen” of the United States in 26 U.S.C. 1.1-1(a) and (b) is voluntary, FTSIGhttps://ftsig.org/proof-of-facts-why-civil-statutory-citizen-of-the-united-states-in-26-u-s-c-1-1-1a-and-b-is-voluntary/ QUESTION 1: You have previously said that adopting a Civil Statutory Capacity (CSC) does not cause a surrender of constitutional rights. In doing so, you have equivocated because: 1. Fifth Amendment rights…

Copilot: Comparison between Private Right, Public Interest, and Public Right Regulation

By ftsig-admin / April 15, 2026 / Comments Off on Copilot: Comparison between Private Right, Public Interest, and Public Right Regulation

INTRODUCTION: Two main Supreme Court Doctrines directly address how PRIVATE property and PRIVATE rights are converted to PUBLIC property and PUBLIC rights respectively. They are: This series of questions compares these two doctrines to provide a comprehensive analysis of how they interact with your PRIVATE property and PRIVATE rights to produce a tax obligation, and…