No, the federal income tax is not going away. The government’s power to tax income is written into the Constitution through the 16th Amendment, and undoing that would take a new constitutional amendment, not an act of Congress. Recent law has actually moved the other direction: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed on July 4, 2025, made the lower individual tax rates from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent instead of letting them expire at the end of 2025.1Internal Revenue Service. One Big Beautiful Bill Provisions
Why Congress Cannot Simply End It
The 16th Amendment, ratified on February 3, 1913, gives Congress the power to “lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States.”2Congress.gov. US Constitution – Sixteenth Amendment Because that authority sits in the Constitution, ordinary legislation cannot erase it. Congress could pass a law setting every rate to zero, but the underlying power would remain, and a future Congress could raise rates again by simple majority.
Permanently stripping the federal government of the ability to tax income would require repealing the 16th Amendment. Under Article V, that means two-thirds approval in both the House and Senate, followed by ratification from 38 state legislatures.3National Archives. Article V, US Constitution The Constitution has been amended only 27 times in more than two centuries.
A resolution to do exactly this is pending. H.J.Res.14 in the 119th Congress proposes repealing the 16th Amendment outright.4Congress.gov. HJRes14 – 119th Congress (2025-2026) Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to Repeal the Sixteenth Article of Amendment Similar resolutions in past sessions have never reached a floor vote. Individual income taxes fund roughly half of federal revenue, and eliminating that with no replacement in place is not a proposition either party has been willing to seriously advance.
What the 2025 Law Actually Changed
Much of the confusion about income tax “ending” comes from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, whose individual provisions were set to expire on December 31, 2025. Without action, the top rate would have gone back to 39.6 percent and the standard deduction would have shrunk. Headlines about that looming change ran for years, and “tax rates are changing” got read as “income tax might end.”
That expiration never happened. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the individual provisions permanent. For 2026, the top rate stays at 37 percent for single filers earning above $640,600, and the standard deduction rises to $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household.5Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 Including Amendments From the One Big Beautiful Bill The child tax credit went from $2,000 to $2,200 per qualifying child and is now indexed to inflation.6Congress.gov. The Child Tax Credit How It Works and Who Receives It
The same law added targeted exclusions that feed the perception of a shrinking tax. Workers can now exclude tips and overtime pay from federal income tax, and new deductions were created for car loan interest and for seniors. These reduce what many people owe, but they are carve-outs inside the existing system. The income tax itself, and the April filing deadline, remain.
Proposals to Replace the Income Tax
Tariffs
The most visible proposal to actually zero out income tax for most people would replace the lost revenue with tariffs on imports. The Trump administration has floated eliminating income tax liability for anyone earning under $200,000.
The numbers don’t work. The tariffs imposed and scheduled as of early 2025 were projected to raise about $167 billion a year. Eliminating income tax for filers under $200,000 would cost the Treasury roughly $737.5 billion annually, more than four times the tariff revenue. Over a ten-year window the gap approaches $8.5 trillion. Tariff revenue is also self-limiting: tariffs are meant to discourage imports, and as imports fall, so does the revenue base.
The FairTax Act
The most detailed legislative alternative is the FairTax Act, reintroduced as H.R. 25 in the 119th Congress.7Congress.gov. HR 25 – FairTax Act of 2025 It would repeal individual and corporate income taxes, capital gains taxes, and estate taxes, and replace them with a 23 percent national sales tax on new goods and services. The IRS as currently structured would be dismantled. A monthly “prebate” would offset the sales tax up to the federal poverty level for every household.
Critics note that consumer prices would jump by roughly the tax rate on day one, which hits retirees and anyone on fixed savings hardest. Some version of the bill has been introduced for over two decades. Its current status is “Introduced,” with referral to the House Ways and Means Committee in January 2025 and no hearings scheduled.7Congress.gov. HR 25 – FairTax Act of 2025
Where Income Tax Is Actually Shrinking: The States
At the state level, the picture looks genuinely different. Nine states currently impose no broad-based personal income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. New Hampshire finished phasing out its interest and dividends tax on January 1, 2025, joining the group fully.
More states are cutting rates or building automatic triggers into their tax codes that drop rates when revenue exceeds inflation-adjusted targets. Mississippi has a scheduled phase-down toward a 3 percent rate by 2030, with further reductions possible if triggers are met. Oklahoma enacted a trigger mechanism in 2025 aimed at phasing its income tax out entirely over time. Kentucky moved from 4 to 3.5 percent for 2026. North Carolina completed its phase-down to a flat 3.99 percent.
For an individual, moving to a no-income-tax state is the most concrete version of income tax “going away.” State income taxes are a fraction of what most people pay federally, though, so even relocating to Florida or Texas leaves the federal bill fully intact.
The Cost of Treating Federal Income Tax as Optional
Searches about income tax disappearing sometimes lead to bolder claims: that the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified, that wages aren’t legally taxable, or that filing is voluntary. The IRS lists these positions in Notice 2010-33, and federal courts have rejected each one repeatedly.8Internal Revenue Service. IRS Notice 2010-33 Frivolous Tax Positions
Acting on them is expensive. Filing a return based on a position the IRS has designated as frivolous triggers an automatic $5,000 civil penalty under Section 6702 of the Internal Revenue Code, on top of the tax actually owed.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6702 Frivolous Tax Submissions The IRS allows a 30-day window to withdraw a frivolous submission after notice.
Willfully refusing to pay or filing false returns to evade tax is a felony. A conviction under Section 7201 carries up to five years in prison and fines of up to $100,000 for individuals or $500,000 for corporations.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7201 Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax The IRS processes thousands of frivolous return penalties every year.11Internal Revenue Service. Frivolous Tax Arguments Completes the IRS Dirty Dozen List of Tax Scams Until Congress and three-fourths of the states agree otherwise, the answer to whether federal income tax is going away is simply no, and treating it as if the answer were yes carries real consequences.