Posted on 09/05/2002 5:19:31 AM PDT by Pern
A long-time tax activist has sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service informing the agency he will no longer pay income taxes and daring IRS officials to arrest him.
"I ... have not filed a federal income tax return for 1997 or any subsequent year. This is not because I am protesting any law, or because I do not want to pay my 'fair share'; it is because I refuse to be a victim of the biggest financial fraud in history," said "Theft By Deception" video producer Larken Rose.
Vowing not to "remain silent" as Washington allegedly continues to "defraud my fellow Americans," Rose, in his letter, admonished the IRS to "stop terrorizing the American public" while challenging them to "come and get me."
"I will not stand by and allow myself, my family and my neighbors to be extorted simply because some power-happy bureaucrats huff and puff about all the nasty things they will do to anyone who does not 'comply' with the IRS's misapplication of the law," Rose said.
"To the [Department of Justice] and the IRS ... make an 'example' of me," he wrote. "Surely if my position is 'frivolous' and completely devoid of merit, then the DOJ attorneys can easily refute my position in front of a jury, and have me convicted and imprisoned."
"Take your best shot," he challenged.
Larken, in his letter, alleged that the federal income tax "applies only to one's taxable income, not to all income." He said that the federal tax code "clearly" shows "income to be taxable only when it comes from certain types of international or foreign commerce."
He accused IRS officials of refusing to honestly debate his points and said the government resorted to "threats, evasions and accusations" to enforce the tax code.
"[IRS's] own law books expose the biggest financial fraud in history: The misrepresentation and misapplication of the federal income tax," he wrote.
U.S. Treasury officials say the views of those like Rose and other so-called "tax protesters" are fraudulent and misrepresentative of the tax code and the 16th Amendment, which authorized the income tax in 1913. Many activists claim the amendment was never properly ratified.
Some "tax protesters" say the system was initially established as a "voluntary system," but Treasury officials say the "'voluntary compliance' means that each of us is responsible for filing a tax return when required, and for determining and paying the correct amount of tax."
Also, the agency has a division specifically targeting "the portion of American taxpayers who willfully and intentionally violate their known legal duty of voluntarily filing income tax returns and/or paying the correct amount of income, employment or excise taxes," says a description posted on the Treasury Department's website.
"Seek expert advice before you subscribe to any scheme that offers instant wealth or exemption from your obligation as a United States Citizen to pay taxes," says the website.
But Rose isn't running a "scam," and he says he isn't hiding. In fact, he handed out "around 900" copies of his letter last month in front of IRS and Justice Department headquarters in Washington, "including hundreds of copies being personally handed to IRS and DOJ employees."
He also said he has published his letter as an "official notice" of his intentions in three papers – The Honolulu Advertiser, the Idaho Observer and the Texas City Sun. He said other, larger papers – The Tampa Tribune, The St. Petersburg Times, The Kansas City Star, Idaho Statesman and Great Falls Tribune – refused to publish it, "even as a paid advertisement."
The IRS said the 2002 tax filing season was record-setting, with some 48.5 million taxpayers filing their returns electronically. In all, over 117.5 million people filed returns, up from 115.8 million in 2001.
The agency paid out nearly $150 billion in refunds to 77 million filers and said its website – www.irs.gov – received nearly 2 billion hits during tax season.
Too bad the courts disagree with him. But who cares what they think. They are part of the conspiracy.
And don't put any more black men in prison. There are too many already.
This is the way that we the people can beat the miserable, enslaving income tax tax......Get on tax case juries, convince the other jurors to find the defendant not guilty, or if that fails, hang the jury.....Make it clear to the government that any tax case they bring will fail.....
Correct me if I'm wrong any lawyers out there, but do tax cases go to jury trial? I read someplace that they don't for this very reason (jury nullification). As I said, I'm not sure on this one.
Who is, then? Somebody has to push the envelope or else nothing will ever be done about the out of control taxation we now experience. IMHO we should support everyone and anyone who is willing to confront the beast, no matter whether we agree with their stance or not. A thousand pin pricks accomplish the same as a massive stab wound.
Boonie Rat
MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66
The IRS has never been given any delegated or statutory authority to enforce anything with respect to income taxes. The enforcement powers of the IRS were transferred to the BATF in 1974 by Treasury decision, and those enforcement powers pertain only to mandatory taxes such as liquor, tobacco and firearms.
The IRS is an administrative agency whose employees -- except for special agents in the criminal investigation division -- have NO AUTHORITY FROM CONGRESS to send out notices of levy, seize bank accounts/cars/homes/businesses, create "dummy" income tax returns in order to make bogus "assessments", or any of the other myriad illegal activities that they engage in every day. They have no authority to do anything other than take in payments made by suckers who think they are "required" to pay an "income" tax. When revenue agents or tax examiners do these things, they are BREAKING THE LAW. That is why Mr. Rose and millions like him are fed up with the abuse of power in Washington.
Or better, go to sleep, and when the jury finishes its deliberations, wake up and vote "Not guilty".
Judges in tax cases will charge juries that they have to apply the law as the judge gives it to them, but that it NOT TRUE. Any juror can vote his conscience right in the teeth of the law. See the U.S. Supreme Court case of Georgia v. Brailsford.
Yep, they will...but one thing about that: when they do it to all of us, none of us will no longer be paying taxes, but instead, they will have to use tax funds to keep us locked up with 3 meals/day, free tv, clean clothes and a dry bed.....Something has got to give in this evil scheme and I'm afraid it is going to take mass tax revolt by the working stiffs in this country to get the message across to our esteemed elected leaders in Congress. They are the ones that are guilty, not the IRS. The IRS is just enforcing what these looters have bestowed upon us.
I've always said to myself that when over 50% of my earned income (and I've paid out my FICA every year since 1973 so the govt. probably considers me one of the "rich", I guess) is taken from me in this evil redistribution program (soon to become reparations program), I would no longer voluntarily participate in it. How can I not participate? Easy, I will have no income: ie; just quit working. I hit the 50% mark this year. It won't be long before I just quit working as an "employee" and just live off whatever I can in govt. handouts and whatever I can grow on my land. But I can assure you, it won't be long before NO more income tax payments from me. I'm just another productive member of society that has just about had it and ready to "drop out" of the system.
Who is John Gault?
Criminal tax cases, like any criminal case, must be tried by a jury unless both sides agree to let the judge do it alone. In civil tax cases, the taxpayer has a choice: you can pay what the IRS says you owe, and sue for a refund, in which case you get a jury trial, or you can contest the IRS's claims in Tax Court without paying first, but then you don't get a jury.
The issue seems to be related to his refusal/failure to FILE income tax returns.
Did I miss something ??
I believe that is what he is doing. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not that well educated on the subject, but having looked at his arguments, they appear to make sense. Perhaps someone who knows what they are talking about would let me know what they think.
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