Are you engaged in a trade or business?
If so, do you KNOW what the legal definition of a "trade or business" is in the law?
You can find it in the tax code at 26 USC 7701(a)(26):
The term “trade or business” includes the performance of the functions of a public office.
There is NO OTHER definition of this term anywhere in the tax code.
FYI.
Hope you're enjoying your weekend. There is fine print on this distinction.
The OP definition is influenced by 26 USC 7701(c):
Supreme Court review of this provision clarifies that this clarification neither requires nor forbids the adding of "other things". However, statutory history of this clause and canons of construction require those other things to be of the same class as the examples given (public office) and not of some broader class not indicated by the examples given. For instance (and this is a statutory example), the "inclusion" of the Army and Navy in some provision does not exclude the Coast Guard and Space Force, nor does it necessarily include them by default either.
Right, but "Army and Navy" WOULD exclude the employees at Walmart.
They MUST be within the scope of the definition.
Having a job in a public office MEANS a government job.
Correct. Mentioning the Virgin Islands and Washington DC has no power to include (nor necessarily exclude) Virginia and Washington, because the category of the former is territories rather than sovereign states. All the details are spelled out in the cascade here and I'm interested in your take.