Bartering for individuals tend to not be a taxable event.
It's muddy when it involves a business and an individual tho - very hard to say if it's fair to tax bartering. But it's certainly not fair (imho) to tax the individual just because it's hard to tax the business for it.
This isn't true in Australia, you are meant to pay tax on barter, even individuals - I could even see the tax office pursuing it for big ticket items like heavy machinery
It's muddy when it involves a business and an individual tho - very hard to say if it's fair to tax bartering. But it's certainly not fair (imho) to tax the individual just because it's hard to tax the business for it.