By the same logic, and I've seen this said before, your earnings from your job are not income either. Working to support yourself is a right not a privilege; since it is not a privilege it is not taxable.
Another question is "who is a taxpayer". The answer is nowhere in the IRS code, which is all about the taxation of taxpayers. The code never mentions US citizens at all. But that code, IIRC, says that aliens (not US citizens certainly) are subject to the tax under certain circumstances. So one could claim that one is not a "taxpayer" and therefore is exempt from IRS taxation. This of course has been tried.
The results of these logical attacks on the IRS tax vary by the case. Tax Court cases are only precedents if they result in conviction! If it's acquittal, the case is not precedent and ls dropped down the memory hole. Believe it or not, that is the law. So it's hard to see what worked before the Tax Court, and "stare decisis" (the doctrine of following old precedents) won't guarantee that you will get the same favorable result that someone else did previously.
I don't try any of this -- with respect to pay from my job or any other money I may get -- for two reasons. One is that I have a salary and tax is withheld before I see it. So if I don't file a tax return I can't get any of it refunded. The other reason is simple fear of the IRS and related structure. They would get me eventually.
I bet the Appeals Court judges who ruled in the guy's favor won't even try it on their own taxes. But they are salaried with tax withheld from their paychecks, so it probably wouldn't do them much good.
