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.
This dude might should talk to James Traficant.
Too bad the courts disagree with him. But who cares what they think. They are part of the conspiracy.
Have the courts actually ruled on this position?
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