THE POWER TO DESTROY IRS special agent is right, says CPA 'We need to take next step'

By Sarah Foster © 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

You might expect that when Joe Banister -- a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service -- went public with his findings challenging the legality and constitutionality of the IRS, that his associates at the service would turn their backs on him and attorneys and fellow certified public accountants would ridicule his claims.

That's not been the case. True, those at the higher echelons at the IRS have yet to respond to his allegations, but to Banister's surprise, he's being well received not only by fellow agents at the San Jose office where he worked -- but also by Tim Brewer, a San Jose CPA who gave Banister his first job when he was just out of college, who says he agrees with him and is "thrilled" he is doing what he's doing to raise public awareness.

Banister worked for Brewer from August 1986 to early 1987, before beginning a five-year career with KPMG Peat Marwick, where he rose to the level of senior tax specialist and tax auditor. It was Brewer who recommended Banister to the huge accounting firm, regarding him as a steady, diligent worker and a careful researcher.

"I've looked over Joe's report," Brewer told WorldNetDaily, "and I can't find any holes in it. I've talked with tax lawyers that I know, and their only response is: 'So what, what are you going to do about it? The IRS isn't going to back down, and the courts aren't going to back you up.'

"But none of the tax lawyers I spoke with could give me any reasons why the issues Joe raised and the allegations he made were wrong," said Brewer.

The report Brewer was referring to was the 95-page book Banister wrote in which he presented three specific allegations:

That the filing of federal income tax returns is voluntary, and the filing of federal income tax returns is not required;

That the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was never ratified;

That income taxes are not used to pay for daily government operations, but to pay the interest on the national debt.

Banister's conclusions were the result of two years of investigation and research, conducted during evenings and weekends, from late 1996 through 1998.

As detailed earlier by WorldNetDaily, at the time he began his investigation Banister, 36, was working as an "accountant with a badge" -- as agents of the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS are called. The job requires not only accounting skills and experience, but also the ability to handle firearms. It is considered one of the more prestigious jobs within the Service.

Banister began his research reluctantly in Dec. 1996, and arrived at his conclusions only after considerable study and soul searching. Driven by concern that he was helping enforce an illegal law, he put his findings into his report and on Feb. 8 sent it with a cover letter to his supervisors at the San Jose office of the IRS-CID, asking that the report and letter be transmitted to officials at the highest levels -- Commissioner Charles Rossotti himself, or his designee. He requested that they respond to these allegations within 30 days and tell him if he was either right or wrong, or he would have to resign.

He didn't have to wait that long. On Feb. 17, Banister was called into his supervisor's office and was told that the report had been reviewed "by the highest levels of the IRS." Then he was handed a memo, dated that day, stating simply "the Internal Revenue Service will not be responding to your request and will provide you with the necessary paperwork to tender your resignation."

Prior to handing in his report, Banister had visited with Brewer seeking his opinion.

"He stopped by in early January of this year," Brewer recalled. "He was kind of sheepish and said he hoped I wouldn't think he was crazy, but he had arrived at some strange conclusions. He wanted to know what I thought about this. Of course, I knew Joe wasn't crazy; besides -- I've had these same concerns (about the legality of the IRS) for a long time.

"As far as I can see, the only reason we still have an IRS is because they've got the bigger stick: the courts, the lien-and-levy process, and everything else.

"So I'm, thrilled Joe is doing this. I don't know where it's going to go, but I'm happy there may finally be some exposure on this issue. Maybe some scholars will start looking into this -- and not address it from the standpoint that, well, the government has to have money so it's OK to have an illegal tax."

Though Brewer -- and the attorneys he knows -- agree with Banister's conclusions, the question remains, What to do about it?

"I know he's right, but people keep going to jail and losing their homes and assets," Brewer observed.

Banister has an explanation for this: "I'm beginning to understand that the only reason people go to jail is fear, intimidation, and ignorance of the law," he explained. I never worked on the civil side (of the IRS) but I have worked with Department of Justice attorneys on one income tax trial, and the main thrust of their appeal to the jury was: You pay, but this guy didn't pay; you paid your fair share, he didn't.

"They use raw emotion -- rather than finding out whether the laws are truly mandatory. I've seen it with my own eyes that they don't key in so much on the person being a lawbreaker, but on whether he has paid his 'fair share.'

"The prosecution isn't about to offer to the jury that one of the reasons a defendant didn't file his tax form is because he (the defendant) has researched it and found out it isn't required," he said.

Brewer agrees, and would like to see the issues raised by Banister properly examined.

"It's really sad, the public attitude about the IRS." he said. "People are scared to take deductions because of their fear. We've got a scared society -- and that's why I applauded Joe in his efforts to find this out and make it public.

"Now we need to go to the next step. We need full-blown congressional hearings. We need the legal scholars and the great minds to explain where Joe's allegations are wrong -- if they are wrong.

"Right now, the IRS is like a parent telling a child to do something 'because I tell you to' -- without giving any reason why. That's what government is doing to us. They're not saying why, they're just saying, 'Do it because I told you so.'"

As for Banister, he would like to see people "burning up the telephones, trying to find out why a government that's supposed to exist with the consent of the governed is thumbing its nose at all of us."

A copy of Banister's report, 'Investigating the Federal Income Tax,' can be ordered from his website.

-- bugs (bunny@aol.com), May 13, 2001

Answers

They Told The Truth!

... About The Internal Revenue Service

"In a recent conversation with an official at the Internal Revenue Service, I was amazed when he told me that 'If the taxpayers of this country ever discover that the IRS operates on 90% bluff the entire system will collapse' ".

- Henry Bellmon, Senator (1969)

"... the key question is: can we define 'income' in a fair and reasonably straightforward manner? Unfortunately we have not yet succeeded in doing so".

-Shirley Peterson, former IRS Commissioner, April 1993

"I don't like the income tax. Every time we talk about these taxes we get around to the idea of 'from each according to his capacity and to each according to his needs'. That's socialism. It's written into the Communist Manifesto. Maybe we ought to see that every person who gets a tax return receives a copy of the Communist Manifesto with it so he can see what's happening to him".

-T. Coleman Andrews, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, May 25, 1956 in US. News & World Report

"Our federal tax system is, in short, utterly impossible, utterly unjust and completely counterproductive [it] reeks with injustice and is fundamentally un-American... it has earned a rebellion and it's time we rebelled".

-President Ronald Reagan, May 1983, Williamsburg, VA

"If no information or return is filed, [the] Internal Revenue Service cannot assess you".

- Gary Makovski, Special IRS Agent, testifying under oath in US. v. Lloyd

"Our tax system is based upon voluntary assessment and payment, not upon distraint".

- United States Supreme Court, in Flora v. United States

"Our tax system is based on individual self-assessment and voluntary compliance".

-Mortimer Caplin, Internal Revenue Audit Manual (1975)

"The United States has a system of taxation by confession".

-Hugo Black, Supreme Court Justice, in U.S.A. Kahriger

"Only the rare taxpayer would be likely to know that he could refuse to produce his records to IRS agents... Who would believe the ironic truth that the cooperative taxpayer fares much worse than the individual who relies upon his constitutional rights".

-Judge Cummings, U.S. Federal Judge, in US. v. Dickerson (7th Circuit 1969)

"Let me point this out now. Your income tax is 100 percent voluntary tax, and your liquor tax is 100 percent enforced tax. Now, the situation is as different as night and day. Consequently, your same rules just will not apply...".

-Dwight E. Avis, former head of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the IRS, testifying before a House Ways and Means subcommittee in 1953

"The purpose of the IRS is to collect the proper amount of tax revenues at the least cost to the public, and in a manner that warrants the highest degree of public confidence in our integrity, efficiency and fairness. To achieve that purpose, we will encourage and achieve the highest possible degree of voluntary compliance in accordance with the tax laws and regulations...".

-Internal Revenue Manual, Chapter 1100, section 1111.1

"Fear is the key element for the IRS in achieving its mission. Without fear, the IRS would have a difficult time maintaining our so- called system of voluntary compliance ...". "Given the opportunity, the IRS will take the easy way out and grab whatever it can... the IRS does not really care about you and what your future....... may be".

-Santo Presti, former IRS Criminal Investigation Agent and author of "IRS In Action"

"The IRS is an extraordinary example of the end justifying the means. The means of this agency is growth. It is interesting that the revenue officers within the IRS refer to taxpayers as 'inventory'. The IRS embodies the political realities of the selfish human desire to dominate others. Thus the end of this gigantic pretense of officialdom is power, pure and simple. The meek may inherit the earth, but they will never receive a promotion in an agency where efficiency is measured by the number of seizures of taxpayers' property and by the number of citizens and businesses driven into bankruptcy".

- George Hansen, Congressman and author of "To Harass Our People"

"I have sat on many a promotion panel where the first question of panel members was 'How many seizures have you made?"'.

-Joseph R. Smith, eighteen-year IRS agent, testifying before Congress

"The agency that is so strict on the way Americans keep their books cannot even pass a financial audit".

-Ted Stevens, Republican Senator from Alaska

"Eight decades of amendments... to [the] code have produced a virtually impenetrable maze... The rules are unintelligible to most citizens... The rules are equally mysterious to many government employees who are charged with administering and enforcing the law".

- Shirley Peterson, Former IRS Commissioner, April14, 1993 at Southern Methodist University

"some techniques can be used only in connection with a full-scale program due to the nature of the tax situation and the need to avoid unnecessary taxpayer reaction. An example would be income tax returns compliance efforts aimed at the non-business taxpayer".

-Internal Revenue Service Manual, section 5221 "Returns Compliance Programs"

"This [audit] was made extremely difficult because [IRS] existing Systems were not designed to provide reliable financial information... on their operations".

-Comptroller Bowsher, Government Accounting Office, on the first-ever audit of the IRS in 1993.

"The wages of the average American worker, after inflation and taxes, have decreased 17% since 1973, the only Western industrial nation to so suffer".

-Martin Gross, author of "The Tax Racket: Government Extortion From A to Z"

About Social Security

"When you pay social security taxes, you are in no way making provision for your own retirement. You are paying the pensions of those who are already retired. Once you understand this, you see that whether you will get the benefits you are counting on when you retire depends on whether Congress will levy enough taxes, borrow enough, or print enough money...

-W. Allen Wallis, former Chairman of the 1975 Advisory Council on Social Security, May27, 1976

"There is no prospect that today's younger workers will receive all the Social Security and Medicare benefits currently promised them".

-Dorcas Hardy, former Social Security Commissioner and author of "Social Insecurity", quoted in the December 1995 Reader's Digest.

'All we have to do now is to inform the public that the payment of social security taxes is voluntary and watch the mass exodus".

-Walter E. Williams, John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, January 24, 1996.

...About The Law

"The Constitution is a written instrument. As such it's meaning does not alter. That which it meant when adopted, it means now.

-United States Supreme Court in South Carolina vs. United States (1905)

"The Constitution prohibits any direct tax, unless in proportion to numbers as ascertained by the census..... [and] ... prohibits Congress from laying a direct tax on the revenue from property of the citizen without regard to state lines...

- United States Supreme Court in Pollack v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Company (1895)

"... [the 16th Amendment] conferred no new power of taxation... [and]... prohibited the ... power of income taxation possessed by Congress from the be ginning from being taken out of the category of indirect taxation to which it inherently belonged...".

-United States Supreme Court in Stanton v. Baltic Mining (1916)

"To lay with one hand the power of government on the property of the citizen, and with the other to bestow it on favored individuals... is none the less robbery because it is... called taxation".

-United States Supreme Court in Loan Association v. Topeka (18__ )

"...the intent of the lawmaker is to be found in the language that he has used".

-United States Supreme Court in U.S. V. Goldberg (1897)

"Because of what appears to be a lawful command on the surface, many Citizens, because of their respect for what appears to be law, are cunningly coerced into waiving their rights due to ignorance".

-United States Supreme Court in US. v. Minker, 350 US 179 at 187

"No State shall... coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts...".

-United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1

"... bank records are not the depositor's private papers and having given the information to the bank, the depositor has no legitimate expectation of continued privacy... Records of an individual's accounts with banks are not the individual's private papers protected against compulsory production by the 4th Amendment, but instead are the business records of the banks".

-United States Supreme Court in US. v. Miller

"In questions of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution".

-Thomas Jefferson

...About Money, Banking & The Federal Reserve

"100% of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the Federal Debt ... all individual in-come tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services taxpayers expect from government"

-Grace Commission report submitted to President Ronald Reagan on January 15, 1984

'In 1833, a small group of Socialists met in London, announcing their intentions of converting the British economic system from capitalism to socialism. This group chose the name "Fabian Society". One of the leading members of the Fabian Society, author George Bernard Shaw, perhaps summed it up best when he said, quote: "... Socialism means equality of income or nothing... under socialism you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly feed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not. If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well"

-Edgar Wallace Robinson in his 1980 booklet titled "Rolling Thunder"

"Of all contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes them with paper money".

- Daniel Webster

"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America rise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation".

-John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1787

"Gold is still the ultimate store of wealth. It's the world's only true money. And there isn't much of it to go around. All of it ever mined would fit into a small building - a 56 foot cube. The annual world production would fit into a 14 foot cube, roughly the size of an ordinary living room. If each Chinese citizen were to buy just one ounce, it would take up the annual supply for the next 200 years".

- Mark Nestmann, author of "How To Achieve Personal And Financial Privacy In A Public Age

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... the Money Power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign"' by working upon the prejudices of the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war."

-Abraham Lincoln, - In a letter written to William Elkin just after the passage of the National Banking Act of 1863 and less than five months before he was assassinated.

"... the privilege of creating and issuing money... is the government's greatest creative opportunity... [saving] the taxpayers immense sums of money...".

-Abraham Lincoln

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered".

-Thomas Jefferson in 1802 in a letter to then Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies".

- Thomas Jefferson

"Give me control over a nation's currency and I care not who makes its laws"

- Baron M.A. Rothschild (1744 - 1812)

"Under the surface, the Rothschilds long had a powerful influence in dictating American financial laws. The law records show that they were powers in the old Bank of the United States [abolished by Andrew Jackson]".

-Gustav Myers, author of "History of the Great American Fortunes"

"... You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the grace of the Eternal God, will rout you out".

-President Andrew Jackson, upon evicting a delegation of international bankers from the Oval Office

"If Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations".

- Andrew Jackson

"The few who can understand the system (Federal Reserve) will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favors, that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of the people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantages that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests".

- John Sherman, protege of the Rothschild banking family, in a letter sent in 1863 to New York Bankers, Morton, and Gould, in support of the then proposed National Banking Act

".. we conclude that the [Federal] Reserve Banks are not federal ... but are independent privately owned and locally controlled corporations... without day to day direction from the federal government."

- 9th Circuit Court in Lewis vs United States, June 24, 1982

"Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are US government institutions They are not... they are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the US. for the benefit of themselves and their foreign and domestic swindlers, and rich and predatory money lenders. The sack of the United States by the Fed is the greatest crime in history. Every effort has been made by the Fed to conceal its powers, but the truth is the Fed has usurped the government. It controls everything here and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks governments at will".

-Congressman Charles McFadden, Chairman, House Banking and Currency Committee, June 10, 1932

"when you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover that check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money".

-Boston Federal Reserve Bank in a publication titled "Putting It Simply"

"We make money the old fashioned way. We print it".

-Art Rolnick, former Chief Economist, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank

"This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial Banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the Banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied very soon."

-Robert Hemphill, Credit manager of Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta.

"Historically, the United States has been a hard money country. Only [since 1913] has the United States operated on a fiat money system. During this period, paper money has depreciated over 87%. During the preceding 140 year period, the hard currency of the United States had actually maintained its value. wholesale prices in 1913... were the same as in 1787".

-Kenneth Gerbino, former chairman of the American Economic Council

"About all a Federal Reserve note can legally do is wipe out one debt and replace it with itself another debt, a note that promises nothing. If anything's been paid, the payment occurs only in the minds of the parties...".

- Tupper Saucy, author of" The Miracle On Main Street"

"By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose".

- John Maynard Keynes, economist and author of "The Economic Consequences Of The Peace"

"Inflation has now been institutionalized at a fairly constant 5% per year. This has been determined to be the optimum level for generating the most revenue without causing public alarm. A 5% devaluation applies, not only to the money earned this year, but to all that is left over from previous years. At the end of the first year, a dollar is worth 95 cents. At the end of the second year, the 95 cents is reduced again by 5%, leaving its worth at 90 cents, and so on. By the time a person has worked 20 years, the government will have confiscated 64% of every dollar he saved over those years. By the time he has worked 45 years, the hidden tax will be 90%. The government will take virtually everything a person saves over a lifetime".

- G. Edward Griffin, historian and author of "The Creature From Jekyll Island"

"The real truth of the matter is, and you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the US. since the days of Andrew Jackson. History depicts Andrew Jackson as the last truly honorable and incorruptible American president".

- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, November 23, 1933 in a letter to Colonel Edward Mandell House

"...our system of credit is concentrated... in the hands of a few men... a power so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that [we had] better not speak above [our] breath when [we] speak in condemnation of it ... We have come to be ... completely controlled... by ... small groups of dominant men".

-President Woodrow Wilson

"The Founding Fathers of this great land had no difficulty whatsoever understanding the agenda of bankers, and they frequently referred to them and their kind as, quote, 'friends of paper money. They hated the Bank of England, in particular, and felt that even were we successful in winning our independence from England and King George, we could never truly be a nation of freemen, unless we had an honest money system. Through ignorance, but moreover, because of apathy, a small, but wealthy, clique of power brokers have robbed us of our Rights and Liberties, and we are being raped of our wealth. We are paying the price for the near-comatose levels of complacency by our parents, and only God knows what might become of our children, should we not work diligently to shake this country from its slumber! Many a nation has lost its freedom at the end of a gun barrel, but here in America, we just decided to hand it over voluntarily. Worse yet, we paid for the tyranny and usurpation out of our own pockets with "voluntary" tax contributions and the use of a debt-laden fiat currency!".

-Peter Kershaw, author of the 1994 booklet "Economic Solutions"

Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the U.S., in the field of commerce and manufacturing, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."

Woodrow Wilson - In his book entitled The New Freedom (1913)

"The fact is that there is a serious danger of this country becoming a pluto-democracy; that is, a sham republic with the real government in the hands of a small clique of enormously wealthy men, who speak through their money, and whose influence, even today, radiates to every corner of the United States."

William McAdoo - President Wilson's national campaign vice-chairman, wrote in Crowded years (1974)

"The powers or financial capitalism had (a) far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."

Prof. Carroll Quigley in his book Tragedy and Hope

"In a small Swiss city sits an international organization so obscure and secretive....Control of the institution, the Bank for International Settlements, lies with some of the world's most powerful and least visible men: the heads of 32 central banks, officials able to shift billions of dollars and alter the course of economies at the stroke of a pen."

Keith Bradsher of the New York Times, August 5, 1995

"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create deposits."

Sir Josiah Stamp - President of the Bank of England in the 1920's, and the second richest man in Britain.

"The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is eager to enter into close relationship with the Bank for International Settlements....The conclusion is impossible to escape that the State and Treasury Departments are willing to pool the banking system of Europe and America, setting up a world financial power independent of and above the Government of the United States....The United States under present conditions will be transformed from the most active of manufacturing nations into a consuming and importing nation with a balance of trade against it."

Rep. Louis McFadden - (Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency) quoted in the New York Times (June 1930)

"(The Great Depression resulting from the Stock Market crash) was not accidental. It was a carefully contrived occurrence....The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so they might emerge as rulers of us all."

Rep. McFadden testified in Congress (1933). There were at least two attempts on his life by gunfire. He died of suspected poisoning after attending a banquet.

"The Federal Reserve (Banks) are one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen. There is not a man within the sound of my voice who does not know that this Nation is run by the International Bankers."

Rep. Louis McFadden

"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all commerce and industry."

President James A. Garfield

"History shows that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit and violent means possible to maintain control over governments by controlling the money and the issuance of it."

President James A. Madison

"Nothing did more to spur the boom in stocks than the decision made by the New York Federal Reserve bank, in the spring of 1927, to cut the rediscount rate. Benjamin Strong, Governor of the bank, was chief advocate of this unwise measure, which was taken largely at the behest of Montagu Norman of the Bank of England....At the time of the Banks action I warned of its consequences....I felt that sooner or later the market had to break."

Money baron Bernard Baruch in Baruch: The Public Years (1960)

"Thus corporations finally claimed the full rights enjoyed by individual citizens while being exempted from many of the responsibilities and liabilities of citizenship. Furthermore, in being guaranteed the same right to free speech as individual citizens, they achieved, in the words of Paul Hawken, 'precisely what the Bill of Rights was intended to prevent: domination of public thought and discourse.' The subsequent claim by corporations that they have the same right as any individual to influence the government in their own interest pits the individual citizen against the vast financial and communications resources of the corporation and mocks the constitutional intent that all citizens have an equal voice in the political debates surrounding important issues."

David C. Korten, in his book, When Corporations Rule the World

"Give me control over a man's economic actions, and hence over his means of survival, and except for a few occasional heroes, I'll promise to deliver to you men who think and write and behave as I want them to."

Benjamine A. Rooge

" The Federal Reserve Bank is nothing but a banking fraud and an unlawful crime against civilization. Why? Because they "create" the money made out of nothing, and our Uncle Sap Government issues their "Federal Reserve Notes" and stamps our Government approval with NO obligation whatever from these Federal Reserve Banks, Individual Banks or National Banks, etc.

H.L. Birum, Sr. American Mercury, August 1957, p. 43

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that "all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are preserved to the states or to the people.

" ... To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition. The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill (chartering the first Bank of the United States), have not, been delegated to the United States by the Constitution."

Thomas Jefferson - in opposition to the chartering of the first Bank of the United States (1791).

"The money power preys on the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes."

Abraham Lincoln

"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce."

President James A. Garfield

These statements were made during hearings of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, September 30, 1941.

Members of the Federal Reserve Board call themselves "Governors". Governor Eccles was Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board at the time of these hearings.

Congressman Patman: "How did you get the money to buy those two billion dollars worth of Government securities in 1933?"

Governor Eccles: "Out of the right to issue credit money."

Patman: "And there is nothing behind it, is there, except our Government's credit?"

Eccles: "That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money."

Congressman Fletcher: "Chairman Eccles, when do you think there is a possibility of returning to a free and open market, instead of this pegged and artificially controlled financial market we now have?"

Governor Eccles: "Never, not in your lifetime or mine."

Statements made during hearings of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, 1947.

"Mr. Speaker, we are now in Chapter 11... Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any bankrupt entity in world history".

James Trafficant, Congressman, March 17, 1993 in the Congressional Record

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Amazing Quotes Part II

Thank You

Jim Deal

Exam Certified Independent Representative for the

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-- betty (boop@aol.com), May 13, 2001.

I used to pay income tax. The IRS used to take a big chunk out of my paycheck. Most of it went straight to the Federal Reserve to service the interest on the escalating national debt. The rest went into an alphabet soup of federal agencies, many of which I had no desire to fund with my hard-earned money. And while taxes on my labor kept going up, the taxes on the corporate entities I worked for stayed the same or even dropped. After a while, it just didn't make a whole lot of sense anymore.

It took me a long time to learn the full extent to which American citizens have been deceived regarding the true nature of the income tax. And it took even longer to learn how to avoid the pitfalls inherent with being blacklisted as a "tax protester." But consider this: I haven't paid taxes since 1988. Believe me, it's worth the effort. It is a lot of effort, but that's life -- freedom requires eternal vigilance.

The evolution of the income tax in America is hidden in the shadows of history. But every long journey begins somewhere, so let's start with the U.S. Constitution:

--Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned...

--The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect taxes...

--The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or emuneration.

These three crucial components of our Constitution, in theory, work together in harmony. But in reality, they are rife with contradictions. Point by point:

--Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned...

Over the life of our nation, Congress has tried unsuccessfully to implement a direct tax, and these attempts have always eventually been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. So, at the moment, we need not worry about the application of a direct tax.

--The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect taxes...

Currently, taxes are collected by the Internal Revenue Service, a supposed indirect agency of the Executive Branch. People might ask how our federal government allows this blatant violation of the Constitution. To grant the Treasury the power to collect taxes is by Congress' own words unconstitutional, and this Congressional standing has been upheld as law since 1787. (Starting to get confused yet?) Now let's look at the 16th Amendment:

--The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or emuneration.

Sounds pretty powerful doesn't it? But how come the 16th Amendment didn't affect the other two Constitutional clauses on taxation? Would you believe me if I told you that the Supreme Court concluded long ago that the 16th Amendment had no change or affect on the Constitution? It's actually wasted print. No joke.

Now I must warn you, unless you're courageous enough to bear the title of "tax protester" on your IRS tax record, you won't ask these questions of the IRS. The average person would think that the answers would be so simple and obvious that the IRS wouldn't resort to harassment tactics to avoid answering them. If you ask these questions and are fortunate enough to get an IRS worker on a good day, they'll send you a tax protester form letter telling you that they have the authority to do whatever the hell they want, and that they can find a judge willing to prove it if you dare ask again.

After my first futile attempts to get a straight answer from the IRS, I knew that I would have to find the truth on my own. Convinced that the IRS was hiding something by their shady responses to my inquiries, I took all my savings -- about $500 -- and hit several used book stores to grab any and every book that might contain a clue.

It didn't take long to figure out that public libraries often sell their "Do Not Circulate" books to local used book stores. I had found my gold mine. At the end of three days, I had accumulated a library of sixty of the best books an American could ever have.

With my army of books on Constitutional issues, I dug in for a year-long investigation. I started with the Federalist debates and discovered the difference between internal and external taxes and direct and indirect taxes. I proceeded along to early Congressional records, where I discovered Congress' declaration in 1787 that passing tax collection to the department of the treasury (IRS) is unconstitutional.

Naturally, this led to even more questions. I had to turn to the Supreme Court for answers. From my reading, I discovered the Pollock decision, which declared direct taxes -- including income taxes -- to be unconstitutional. This case resulted in Congress passing the 16th Amendment. With the 16th Amendment in hand, Congress thought it had outsmarted the Supreme Court... until 1916, when the Supreme Court declared in the Brushaber case that the 16th Amendment did not change the Constitution, since the Amendment only applied to excise taxes which the U.S. government already had the power to assess and collect without apportionment.

By then I was REALLY getting confused. Here was all this history and precedent stacked up against the income tax. I had also come across case after case in which various courts had repeatedly affirmed that the income tax applied only to gains and profits, not to compensation for labor -- a fundamental Right which cannot be legally taxed. The Courts even agreed that the tax on one's labor (all of a person's compensation) was a tax on total receipts and thus was also unconstitutional.

I knew there had to be an explanation for how the IRS could make their income tax stick. While reviewing my research material, I remembered the definition of "internal" and "external" tax. After remembering that "internal" taxes originate from within the States and that "external" taxes originate from the Federal government, it dawned on me that there was a problem with the Federal "internal" income tax. I had to dig through the Constitution to find the answer.

It took several months of digging and reading, but over time I found several Supreme Court cases that hinted that something was going on which enabled the Federal government to bypass the Constitution, to the satisfaction of the Supreme Court. But how could this legally be done?

The door finally opened when I read Downes v. Bidwell, in which Justice Harlan explained the existence of two national governments. A quick rereading of the Constitution allowed me to locate the loophole. I now realized that the Federal income tax was, in essence, a tax on the incomes of citizens of the District government -- that is, Washington D.C. and its Territories, such as Guam, Puerto Rico and Wake Island. But how could Citizens of the States be classified as Federal citizens, and when did this happen?

The answer is rooted in the 14th Amendment, which apparently was never ratified, but nevertheless holds full force and effect of law. The 14th Amendment, which was drafted and "ratified" specifically for the purpose of granting 2nd class federal citizenship for the freed slaves, has been deliberately misconstrued to assume that all Americans become Federal citizens. This Amendment gave Federal District citizenship to those persons, namely those of African blood who were slaves, but who did not qualify for State citizenship under existing law. Since the Federal Congress has Absolute Legislative power over Federal (District) citizens, it can rule over them the same way each State can rule within their borders. But Congress has one additional advantageous power that the States do not have.

The Bill of Rights does not apply to 14th Amendment district citizens. (This prompted the creation of Civil Rights for Federal citizens, but still does not guarantee even the most basic Constitutional protections.)

So that was the hidden secret that allowed Congress to apply unconstitutional law upon U.S. citizens (district citizens). But another question remained unanswered: How do laws such as the Federal Internal Income tax reach into the States in defiance of Constitutional restrictions?

After more research, I learned that in 1939, Congress established the Public Salary Tax Act to tax any and all federal workers. Congress was, at the time, unable to impede within the States and tax their federal workers. So in 1940, Congress passed the Buck Act, which authorized them to reach into the domain of the States and impose the Public Salary Tax Act, thus forcing federal employees working within a State to pay this Federal Salary Tax. (Notice that they didn't call it income.) At the time, only 3 to 5 percent of the American population was required to pay a salary or income tax to the Federal government. But that's how the Feds got their foot in the States' door. And thanks to FDR and World War II, the income tax snowballed into the beast we have to contend with today.

In 1942, Congress needed money for the war effort and passed a Constitutional two-year income tax called the Victory Tax. FDR invented the Voluntary W-4 Tax Withholding system, making income tax and withholdings mandatory for all citizens of the Union. Again, this was a two-year tax, and as expected, both the Victory tax and W-4 withholdings legislation were repealed by Congress in 1944.

Unfortunately, they forgot to tell America.

Under the disguise of the 1913 Internal Income tax, the machinery of the Victory tax remained in operation. Voluntary compliance with the Federal internal income tax jumped from an anemic 5 percent to a robust 60 percent in a matter of a couple years via the repealed Victory tax system of tax collection.

By using two illegitimate tax systems, Congress created the beast we have today, taxing us under rates and conditions exceeding those which prompted the Boston Tea Party and the Declaration of Independence.

You may have heard the rumblings, a whisper here, a thinly-veiled news report there. IRS Commissioners complain that 34 million Americans no longer file personal income taxes. Most people are smart enough to see the obvious flip side of those figures: 30 to 40 percent of America doesn't file and pay the Federal income tax.

I fall in that 30 to 40 percent category. I am often questioned by people about how I have "survived" non-compliance for nearly a decade without going to prison. Although this is an easy question for me to answer, it's very difficult for most people to understand.

By understanding my status as a citizen of the States, by knowing how to exercise my Rights under the Constitution, and by knowing who the Federal Internal Income tax does apply to, I have been able to stand up to the IRS without flinching. Some have accused me of being unAmerican. My response to those critics: If I commit fraud against you, you send me to jail. When did participating in government fraud become one's patriotic duty?

Besides, knowledge of the truth is empowering. For example, I know I can sue any IRS employee who violates my Rights. This seems to strike terror to Revenue employees. You see, the IRS is legal fiction. Their employees cry wolf, assuming you'll take their bait. But when you request signatures on all communication or notify them that you record your phone calls, a miraculous transformation of their attitude occurs.

Another example: If you understand how the Code of Federal Regulations works and discover that the policing and collection powers that the IRS claims to have were only delegated to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, IRS agents tend to quickly reassign your case to another unsuspecting minion of the agency.

If they know you understand your Rights, their only resort is to what I call "faxscimile warfare." This is where the think tank of the IRS bombards you with Civil Notices which are not signed or connected with any employee's name. Usually, there isn't a return address to specifically reply to or a phone number to call the person assessing you with yet another groundless penalty.

I found it quite easy to stop this type of harassment by responding to them with questions about the purpose of the assessment. This puts a wrench in their trickery, since they are required to respond as part of the Civil procedure. The response, if there ever is one, is usually another form letter stating that you are a tax protester and that there is no legal requirement for them to answer your questions. Whether such tactics will ever hold up in Court, I will never know. Echoing their thug-like threats, I've told them to take me to court, but they never seem willing to oblige me.

I don't hear much from the IRS these days. I occasionally get the $500 penalty notice for using "unreasonable excuses" like my Constitutional Rights to avoid the income tax. I can only guess that the IRS is only doing their job of running the numbers and maximizing revenues from an increasingly agitated tax base. I'm still waiting for the $500 penalty for breathing Federal air or not recycling the 1040 pamphlet they sent me several years ago. At this point, nothing would surprise me. But hopefully I won't run into anything I can't handle, either.

-- snod (grass@aol.com), May 13, 2001.

If the repugs pull together in congress and the senate and abolish the income tax then I will vote for them in 2004. They scream for big tax cuts when all they would have to do is fire themselves right after abolishing the income tax. Think they will do it? You can bet I won't ever be voting for the repugnant repugs. bwaaahhhaaaa what hypocrites! Repugs suck big time!!

-- Tony Baloney (Fuck the@repugs.com), May 14, 2001.