Posed these question to my CPA the other day:

Question: If I was a farmer and had $1000 worth of corn and my nieghbor had a $1000 worth of potatoes, and we decided to swap one for the other, would there be any taxes due?

Answer: No.

Question: If I wanted to keep the corn, but agreed to plow his fields for him in exchange for the potatoes, would there be any taxes due?

Answer: Yes.

So why is it I'm not taxed on my labor of growing the corn and exchanging it for the potatoes, but I am for doing some labor in exchange for the potatoes?

Screwed up if you ask me.

The Supreme Court ruled that a farmer had to pay federal taxes on his own corn that he grew on his own farm from his own seed for his own animals.  It never left his farm, much less his state.

Their reasoning?

"If every farmer was to grow his own corn for his own use, then less corn would be bought and sold interstate, and THAT would affect interstate commerce.  (Plus, we wanna get PAID!)"

With SC rulings like that, the Republic is lost.

-Troy