SOURCE:  The Great IRS Hoax book, Section 6.3.9.

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In 1978, the wording of 26 CFR § 1.861-8 was changed significantly, and the title was changed from “Computation of Taxable Income from Sources Within the United States” to “Computation of taxable income from sources within the United States and from other sources and activities.”  Some have suggested that the current title implies that one should not be using this section unless he has income both from within the United States and from “other sources and activities.”  The older title, as well as the text of the current regulations, shows that this is not the case. 

Another change regarding 26 CFR § 1.861 that can only be seen as an intent to deceive occurred in 1978. 26 CFR § 1.861-8, which contains the key list of sources, went from less than one page before 1978 to more than forty pages. There was no underlying change in the law or even in the substance of the regulation, but the regulation became a maze of new phrases, such as "statutory groupings," or "operative sections," or "specific sources" that require much more effort to sort out, but lead to the same conclusion as before. There can no other explanation for such a masterpiece of regulatory obfuscation but the intent to confuse, obscure, deceive and defraud. Those who claim that IRC 861 is not relevant to citizens should explain why officials would go to such great lengths to obfuscate what would otherwise be a relatively little-used part of the Code. If it didn't apply to most citizens, such a masterful job of creating confusion would be a waste of lawyerly talent.

It's well worth the government's while to have the cleverest lawyers and officials try to keep playing with the wording of the income tax Code and regulations to further disguise the true meaning of the law without actually changing it, in order to make it appear that most citizens are required to file and pay even if they aren't. The payoff to the government is enormous - several hundred billion dollars a year.