>never hits your bank account That's basically the definition of "not income". If you "pay me" $5 and then "charge me" $5 for the privilege of being in the sa

>never hits your bank account That's basically the definition of "not income". If you "pay me" $5 and then "charge me" $5 for the privilege of being in the same room with you, you just moved money from your left hand to your right hand. It was your money the whole time, so I shouldn't owe any taxes on it. Specifically, the problem here is that, roughly, you would actually pay me $20, then move $40 from your left hand to your right, and then the government would charge me tax on $60. You're actually tripling my income-tax burden while increasing my real pay not a penny.