Taxation and Privacy

"Surrogate birth mothers" often have income from the "service" they have provided, but must they report that income as income?   Or, as Bridget Crawford (pictured left) asks, does an income tax reporting requirement infringe upon a surrogate’s constitutional right to privacy, as envisioned by Griswold, Eisenstadt  and Lawrence?

Crawford's newest article, Taxation, Pregnancy, and Privacy, 16 William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law 327-368 (2010) (available on ssrn here), argues that surrogacy payments should be taxed, despite any constitutional (or other) claims of privacy.  She reaches the same conclusion about the sale of body parts, virginity (as auctioned to the highest bidder), and the proceeds from prostitution. 

It seems that substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment is no shield against the power of the Sixteenth Amendment.  Our most recent discussion of the Sixteenth Amendment, including efforts to repeal it is here.

RR